NEW 


NEW    ITALY 


MAKKKS  OF  ITALY. 
Virttvr  Emaneul. 

Cavour. 


GaribaLdL 


NEW  ITALY 

HER  PEOPLE  AND  THEIR  STORY 


A  POPULAR  HISTORY 

OF  THE  DEVELOPMENT  AND  PROGRESS 

OF  ITALY  FROM  THE  TIME  OF 

THEODORICH,   THE  GREAT 

TO  THAT  OF   VICTOR 

EMANUEL  III. 


BY 

AUGUSTA  HALE  GIFFORD 

AUTHOR  OF 
"  GERMANY  :  HEB  PEOPLE  AND  THBIB  STORY  " 


ILLUSTRATED  FROM 
PORTRAITS  AND  FAMOUS  PAINTINGS 


BOSTON 
LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO. 


Published,   March,   1909 


Copyright,   fQOQ* 
BY   LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  COMPANY. 


All  Rights  Rtitrved 


NEW  ITALY 


BBRWICK  &  SMITH  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


I  DEDICATE  THIS  BOOK  TO  MY  HUSBAND 

GEORGE  GIFFORD 

FROM  WHOSE  GENIUS  I  RECEIVED  MY    EARLIEST 

LITERARY  ASPIRATIONS 

AND  TO  WHOSE  ENCOURAGEMENT  I  OWE  WHATEVER 
SUCCESS  I  HAVE  HAD  IN  LETTERS 


2037452 


INTRODUCTION 


FROM  the  dawn  of  Italy's  history  the  Italian's  impres- 
sionable nature  has  responded  in  life  and  literature  to 
the  ardor  of  the  scholar,  the  illusion  of  the  painter, 
and  the  touch  of  the  musician's  hand ;  and  thus 
research  in  every  avenue  connected  with  this  most 
fascinating  people  is  attractive  in  the  extreme. 

Italy  is  one  of  the  most  discussed  subjects  of 
the  day,  both  on  account  of  the  great  number  of 
Americans  who  visit  the  country  each  year  and  also 
because  it  has  recently  come  into  notice  as  a  kingdom 
in  process  of  large  development,  which  is  likely  to 
result  in  its  finally  assuming  a  place  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing nations. 

More  and  more  is  written  each  year  concerning 
Italy's  aims,  aspirations,  probabilities,  and  chances. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  a  work  telling  the  deeds  of  the 
people  from  earliest  times  has  become  most  urgent. 

With  reference  also  to  modern  Italian  history  for  the 
past  few  decades,  little  concerning  it  has  been  put  into 
concise  readable  form,  and  a  great  demand  has  all  at 
once  sprung  up  for  a  bright,  brief,  entertaining, 
authentic  account  of  events  in  Italy  since  her  consoli- 
dation as  a  united  kingdom  in  1870. 


viii  Introduction 

No  country  has  produced  more  intensely  interesting 
historical  characters  than  are  found  in  both  ancient  and 
modern  Italy ;  and  the  deepest  regret  is  entertained  that 
in  the  comparatively  small  space  it  is  possible  to  give 
this  vast  subject,  the  greater  part  of  what  is  most 
absorbing  in  the  lives  of  eminent  Italians  must  be  left 
out.  Accordingly,  with  few  exceptions,  we  have  only 
tried  in  the  regular  routine  of  the  work  to  present  dis- 
tinguished Italian  statesmen  and  scholars  by  their  most 
distinguished  deeds  and,  as  they  appear  in  the  fore- 
ground of  what  they  really  accomplished,  leaving  the 
reader  to  elaborate  their  lives  from  biographies  and  his- 
tories which  take  up  topics  in  detail.  In  some  cases 
also,  where  matters  relating  to  both  Germany  and 
Italy  were  treated  thoroughly  in  our  "  Germany :  Her 
People  and  Their  Story,"  we  have  here  only  referred 
to  such  subjects  superficially. 

Much  of  the  material  for  this  volume  was  collected 
during  long  absences  abroad,  with  frequent  sojourns 
in  Italy,  where  access  was  gained  to  many  books  and 
historical  papers  in  the  original  Italian  as  well  as  in 
other  foreign  languages.  These  furnished  us  informa- 
tion not  obtainable  in  works  hitherto  published  in 
English,  while  items  concerning  events  transpiring  in 
Italy  during  the  past  few  years  have  been  gleaned  from 
magazines  and  general  current  literature  in  Italian,  as 
they  have  appeared  from  month  to  month.  Thus  the 
civic  and  political  conditions  of  Italy  as  a  new  king- 
dom have  been  determined  from  the  popular  home 
sentiment. 

Among  writers  consulted  in  the  course  of  the  work, 
besides  books  referred  to  at  odd  times,  the  names  of 
which  have  often  not  been  kept  in  mind  are :  Plutarch, 
Livy,  Gibbon,  Niebuhr,  Mommsen,  Symonds,  Sismondi, 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

Course .  of    History    from    Theodorich    to    Charle- 
magne.—Italy's  Early  Kings.— The  Ottos.    489- 


CHAPTER  II 17 

Beginning  of  the  Italian  Republics. — The  Franconian 
Kings  as  Emperors. — The  Norman  Conquest. — 
Guelphs  and  Ghibellines.— Hildebrand.— The 
Hohenstaufen.  —  Frederick  Barbarossa.  —  The 
Lombard  League.  1002-1190  A.D. 

CHAPTER  III 29 

Henry  VI. — Frederick  II. — Innocent  III. — Branca- 
leone. — Manfred. — Charles  of  Anjou. — 1190- 
1280  A.D. 

CHAPTER  IV. 41 

Venice,  Pisa,  Genoa,  Colonna  and  Orsini. — Sicilian 
Vespers.— The  Neri  and  Bianchi.— Dante.  1280- 
1310  A.D. 

CHAPTER  V. S3 

The  Age  of  the  Despots.— The  Condottieri  and 
the  Free  Companies. — Petrarch. — Boccaccio. — 
Giotto. — Cimabue. — Rienzi.  1310-1354  A.D. 

CHAPTER  VI 69 

The  Visconti. — The  Chiompi  Insurrection  in  Flor- 
ence.— The  Babylonian  Captivity  of  the  Popes. — 
The  Great  Schism.  1349-1435  A.D. 


vi  Contents 

PAGS 

CHAPTER  VII 81 

Rise  of  the  Medici. — The  Sforza  Family. — Nicholas 
V. — Savonarola.  1435-1495  A.D. 

CHAPTER  VIII 95 

Age  of  Invasion. — Coming  of  Charles  VIII. — 
Spanish  Possession  of  Naples. — The  Expulsion 
of  Ludovico  Sforza. — Savonarola's  Death. — 
Peace  of  Cambrey. — Art  and  Literature.  1494- 
1553  AJ>. 

CHAPTER  IX 114 

Age  of  Spanish  Rule.— Clement  VII.— Fall  of  the 
Medici. — The  Jesuits. — Decline  of  Venice.  1513- 
1574  A.D. 

CHAPTER  X 130 

The  Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy.— Her  Dukes.— 
Charles  Emanuel  I.  the  Great. — Excitement  At- 
tending Struggle  of  Spanish  Succession. — 
Masaniello. — Italy's  Kingdoms,  Duchies,  and 
Republics  at  Napoleon's  Invasion.  1574-1792  A.D. 

CHAPTER  XI 147 

The  Absorption  of  Italy  by  Napoleon. — Formation 
of  His  Republics. — Enthusiasm  of  Italy  for 
Napoleon's  Institutions. — 'Italy  Restored  in 
Napoleon's  Absence  in  Egypt. — Battle  of 
Marengo. — Excavations  of  Roman  Ruins  in 
Napoleon's  Time.  1792-1812  A.D. 

CHAPTER  XII 166 

The  Fall  of  Napoleon's  Italian  Monarchy. — Austria 
Again  in  Ascendency. — Advanced  Ideas  of  the 
People. — Old  Conservative  Governments  Re- 
stored.— The  Carbonari. — All  Italy  Aroused. — 
Revolutions  of  1821-1830  and  1848. — Mazzini, 
Cavour,  and  Garibaldi.  1812-1848  A.D. 


Contents  vii 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XIII l84 

The  Defeat  of  Charles  Albert.— Resigns  in  Favor  of 
His  Son.— His  Melancholy  Death.— Victor 
Emanuel  II.'s  Liberal  Reign.— Career  of  Cavour. 
—Louis  Napoleon  Restores  the  Pope.— Massimo 
d'Azeglio.  1848-1859  A.D. 

CHAPTER  XIV ;    2°3 

Victories  of  Magenta  and  Solferino.— Disgraceful 
Truce  with  Austria  by  Napoleon. — Central  Italy 
Ceded  to  Piedmont.— The  Treaty  of  Villa- 
franca.— Nice  and  Savoy  Given  to  France.— 
Garibaldi  Delivers  Kingdom  of  Naples. — The 
Unification  of  Italy. — Cavour's  Death. — Sep- 
tember Convention.  1859-1861  A.D. 

CHAPTER  XV 221 

The  United  Kingdom  of  Italy.— Capital  Removed 
from  Turin  to  Florence.— Alliance  with  Prus- 
sia.— Prussian  Army  Victorious  at  Koniggratz. 
—Austria  Gives  up  Venice.— Italian  Army  De- 
feated at  Custoza,  etc. — End  of  September  Con- 
vention.— Pope  Yields  to  Superior  Force  and 
Gives  up  Temporal  Power.— The  Papal  States 
Amalgamated.  1861-1870  A.D. 

CHAPTER  XVI 233 

Victor  Emanuel  Enters  Rome  as  King  of  United 
Italy.— He  Administers  Affairs  of  the  Govern- 
ment Faithfully.— Death  of  Many  of  Italy's  Emi- 
nent Men.— Victor  Emanuel  Dies.— Death  of 
Pope  Pius  IX.— Pope  Leo  XIII.— Reign  of  King 
Humbert.— Death  of  Garibaldi— Succeeding 
Events  and  Changes.  1870-1899  A.D. 

CHAPTER  XVII 25* 

Princes  of  the  House  of  Savoy.— Officers  of  the 
State  and  Its  Various  Institutions. — Improve- 
ment in  Condition  of  People  in  Various  Sections 
and  Departments. — Vast  Emigration. 


viii  Contents 

PACK 

CHAPTER  XVIII 265 

Abyssinian   War. — Crispi. — Authors.     1885-1899   A.D. 

CHAPTER  XIX 285 

Assassination  of  King  Humbert. — Victor  Emanuel 
III.— Death  of  Crispi.— Birth  of  Princess 
lolande.— Birth  of  Humbert,  Prince  of  Pied- 
mont. 1900-1905  A.D. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Makers  of  Italy Frontispiece 

Victor  Emanuel 

Cavour 

Garibaldi  PAGB 

Dante  and  Beatrice 46 

Savonarola 91 

Artists Ill 

Raphael 

Giotto 

Michaelangelo 

Fra  Angelico 

Leonardo  da  Vinci 

Map,  Italy  in  the  time  of  Napoleon 149 

Authors 162 

Tasso 

Petrarch 

Dante 

Boccaccio 

d'Annunzio 
Map,  Italy  after  the  downfall  of  Napoleon     .     .     168 

Castle  of  St.  Angelo 232 

Pope  Leo  XIII 240 

Map,  Italy  at  the  present  time 253 

Musicians 280 

Donizetti 

Bellini 

Rossini 

Verdi 

Mascagni 

Naples  of  To-day 284 

Victor  Emanuel  III • ' .     290 

Queen  Helene 294 


NEW     ITALY 

CHAPTER  I 

COURSE    OF    HISTORY    FROM    THEODORICH    TO    CHARLE- 
MAGNE.— ITALY'S  EARLY  KINGS. — THE  OTTOS. 

489—1002    A.D. 

IT  is  thought  that  the  seven  vultures  which  Remus 
first  espied  signified  the  seven  centuries  previous  to 
the  founding  of  the  Empire,  while  the  twelve  birds 
in  the  heavens  which  appeared  to  Rotfulus  indicated 
the  twelve  centuries  during  which  Rome  existed  in 
her  glory  and  might.  Perhaps  also  there  was  a  signifi- 
cance in  the  last  ruler  of  the  Empire  being  called 
Romulus  Augustulus,  the  combined  names  of  the 
founder  of  Rome  and  of  the  first  Emperor.  It  might 
have  been  a  cynicism  on  the  small  beginning,  wonder- 
ful growth  and  phenomenal  decay  of  a  great  nation, 
since  Rome  had  passed  from  the  immaturity  of  child- 
hood to  the  ripening  of  a  noble  manhood,  and  had 
then  sunk  into  the  decadence  of  a  State  which  had 
passed  its  prime  and  outlived  its  usefulness. 

As  we  have  had  reason  to  notice,  in  her  early  strife 
for  glory  Rome  recognized  no  forces  outside  herself. 
By  her  the  other  nations  were  regarded  as  so  many 
puppets,  an  element  of  strength  or  weakness,  accord- 
ing as  they  administered  to  her  growth.  Even  her 
heroes  were  only  used  to  advance  her  interests,  and 
every  great  statesman  whose  mighty  deeds  had 
redounded  to  Rome's  glory  was  thrust  aside  as  soon 
as  he  ceased  to  be  a  stepping-stone  on  which  she  could 
mount  to  further  greatness.  Her  demigods  caught 


2  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  spirit,  and  trod  beneath  their  feet  all  who  stood 
in  the  way  of  their  ambition.  "  Mighty  and  all-power- 
ful "  were  synonyms  which  crushed  opposing  influ- 
ences, whether  the  words  represented  Marius  or  Sylla, 
Pompey  or  Caesar,  or  the  madmen  who  ruled  as 
Emperors  so  many  years  after  the  downfall  of  the 
great  State  had  commenced.  The  wars  of  Hannibal, 
instead  of  crushing  the  Roman  people,  brought  out 
the  arrogance  and  vainglory  of  a  nation  that  could 
not  be  humbled  even  when  abject  at  the  great  con- 
queror's feet;  and  nothing  was  able  to  destroy  her 
until  the  poison  of  effeminacy,  engendered  by  her 
successes,  ate  like  a  canker  into  her  body  politic,  pro- 
ducing a  race  of  pigmies  in  place  of  a  nation  of  giants. 
Gibbon  says  that  the  decline  of  Rome  was  the  natural 
and  inevitable  result  of  immoderate  greatness. 

The  Roman  Empire  before  its  fall  in  476  A.D.  had 
become  a  prey  to  the  numerous  barbarian  factors  she 
had  appropriated,  each  seizing  for  himself  the  part 
which  pleased  him  best;  and  thus  many  kingdoms  had 
risen  out  of  her  ashes.  The  Angles  subjugated  Britain 
and  named  it  England;  the  Franks  conquered  Gaul 
and  called  it  France;  and  the  Burgundians  absorbed 
the  portion  which  afterwards  became  Burgundy.  The 
Vandals  and  Goths  possessed  Spain  and  extended  their 
dominion  over  all  the  Roman  provinces  in  Africa, 
holding  them  until  Justinian's  time;  Panonia  became 
Hungary,  and  "  Italy  alone  kept  her  glorious  name." 
Thus  Rome,  which  had  excelled  all  nations  in  liter- 
ature and  the  fine  arts,  and  had  become  the  model 
for  great  and  warlike  deeds,  she,  the  world-conquer- 
ing portion  of  the  globe,  who  by  the  force  of  her 
genius  had  dispelled  mental  darkness  from  the  world, 
was  at  last  the  most  subjugated.  The  very  spoils 


New  Italy  3 

she  had  taken  from  the  vanquished  nations  helped  to 
precipitate  her  ruin  by  their  demoralizing  influence, 
and  misfortune  thickened  in  proportion  to  her  preced- 
ing prosperity. 

There  were,  however,  native  forces  outside  of  Rome 
that  still  held  something  of  pristine  virtue,  and  this 
was  Italy's  chance.  Yet  the  years  of  servitude  and 
centuries  of  chaos  had  been  so  tremendous  in  their 
influence  that  the  strength  of  factions  warring  against 
their  own  interests  could  not  be  centralized  in  a 
moment. 

Italy  was  too  great  a  prize  to  be  left  long  in  the 
undisputed  possession  of  the  weaklings  who  called 
themselves  rulers;  and  the  chieftain  Odoacer,  as  has 
been  noticed,  having  snatched  it  from  their  hands, 
governed  it  for  a  while  as  a  barbarian  king. 

North  of  the  Black  Sea,  however,  there  was  a  pow- 
erful nation  known  as  the  Ostrogoths,  or  Eastgoths, 
whose  king  was  Theodorich.  Under  him  in  489  the 
Eastgoths  marched  seven  hundred  miles  over  the  Alps 
into  the  plains  of  northern  Italy;  and  in  493  A.D. 
forced  the  intrepid  Odoacer  to  surrender,  after  he  had 
held  out  bravely  behind  the  strongholds  of  Ravenna 
for  three  years.  Theodorich  afterwards,  in  violation 
of  an  agreement  to  share  the  rule  with  Odoacer,  put 
the  latter  to  death.  Zeno,  the  sovereign  of  the  East- 
ern Empire,  jealous  of  Theodorich's  growing  power, 
favored  the  victor,  thinking  that  if  the  latter  could 
absorb  the  Western  kingdom  he  should  not  only  be 
delivered  from  a  dangerous  rival,  but  that  all  com- 
plications with  reference  to  Italy  would  thus  be  settled. 

Considering  the  circumstances  surrounding  Theo- 
dorich the  Great  and  the  times  in  which  he  liyed,  his 
reputation  for  culture  and  wisdom  is  not  unwarranted. 


4  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

He  was  a  prince  of  barbarian  origin,  but  while  still  a 
child  was  educated  in  Constantinople  as  a  hostage; 
and  there  he  had  acquired  all  the  arts  of  civilized  life. 
From  the  first  he  showed  great  executive  ability  in 
uniting  Gothic  and  Italian  elements  so  that  they  would 
do  the  best  service  for  all.  With  this  in  view,  he 
apportioned  one-third  of  the  soil  of  Italy  to  his  Gothic 
soldiers,  leaving  the  larger  portion  to  the  Italians; 
and  in  this  way  he  succeeded  in  Romanizing  his  sub- 
jects instead  of  attempting,  as  other  conquerors  before 
him  had  done,  to  denationalize  the  subjugated. 

Theodorich  also  built  up  the  State  by  other  adroit 
and  diplomatic  measures,  and  among  his  discreet  alli- 
ances with  other  surrounding  nations  was  one  with 
the  great  Frank,  Clovis;  and  although  he  himself 
could  never  learn  to  write,  he  established  communica- 
tion through  secretaries  with  all  the  Gothic  rulers 
throughout  Europe.  In  order  to  better  protect  his 
kingdom,  he  kept  up  an  army  so  well  drilled  that  he 
could  call  into  the  field  two  hundred  thousand  war- 
riors at  an  hour's  notice.  Theodorich  endeavored  in 
every  way  to  bring  about  the  enlightenment  of  Italy; 
and  these  efforts,  together  with  his  great  energy  and 
sagacity,  rendered  his  reign  an  era  of  unparalleled 
peace  and  prosperity. 

But  in  spite  of  his  ability  as  a  ruler,  his  vigor, 
tolerance  and  humanity,  his  love  for  literature,  science 
and  the  fine  arts,  Theodorich  exhibited  many  defects 
due  to  his  barbarian  descent.  This  was  seen  in  the 
case  of  his  favorites,  the  philosophers  Boethius  and 
Symmachus,  whom  he  caused  to  be  cruelly  put  to  death 
without  a  trial,  because  he  suspected  them  of  plot- 
ting with  Justinian  to  overthrow  his  Arian  religion. 
When,  however,  he  became  satisfied  of  their  innocence, 


New  Italy  5 

remorse  for  the  deed  preyed  upon  his  mind  and  short- 
ened his  life,  though  for  six  years  longer  he  dragged 
out  a  melancholy  existence,  dying  in  gloom  in  526  A.D. 
at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  His  ashes  were  scattered 
to  the  wind  by  the  Catholics,  who  regarded  him  as  a 
heretic  on  account  of  his  Arian  doctrine. 

During  the  last  few  years  of  Theodorich's  reign 
Justinian  was  Emperor  at  Constantinople.  Although 
of  uncivilized  stock  he  was  the  most  famous  of  all 
the  Eastern  Emperors,  his  reign  being  filled  with  great 
events  at  home  and  abroad,  in  peace  and  in  war.  As 
a  legislator  and  codifier  of  Roman  law  his  name  is 
most  distinguished ;  many  of  the  codes  he  systematized 
being  the  same  which  Julius  Caesar  had  commenced 
to  classify. 

Justinian  sent  his  great  general  Belisarius  to  take 
Sicily,  and  the  latter,  with  Narses,  afterwards  suc- 
ceeded in  extinguishing  the  race  of  Ostrogoths,  after 
a  desperate  resistance  on  their  part,  thus  reconquer- 
ing for  Justinian  a  great  part  of  the  Western  Empire. 

Belisarius  also  subdued  Gelimar,  the  last  King  of 
the  Vandals  in  Africa.  He  guaranteed  him  his  free- 
dom as  the  price  of  surrender.  Nevertheless  he  led 
the  old  Vandal  warrior  with  a  silver  chain  to  Byzan- 
tium, where  he  forced  him  to  walk  in  a  triumphal 
procession,  insulted  and  ridiculed  by  the  people.  The 
dignity  and  strength  of  the  aged  Vandal  chief,  how- 
ever, so  impressed  Emperor  Justinian  that  he  released 
him,  giving  him  large  estates  outside  the  Byzantine 
capital,  besides  granting  homes  to  his  retinue  and 
educating  the  maidens  of  his  suite.  But  five  thou- 
sand of  Gelimar's  squadrons  were  sent  with  Justinian's 
soldiers  to  fight  the  Parthians ;  and  the  nation  which  at 
one  time  had  numbered  six  hundred  thousand  fol- 


6  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

lowers  was  annihilated.  Thus  the  Vandal  race  dis- 
appeared from  history.  But  scientists  claim  that  they 
discover  a  remnant  among  the  swarthy  Moors  of 
Africa,  with  a  fair  complexion  and  flaxen  hair,  whom 
they  trace  as  descendants  of  the  Vandals. 

Justinian  was  the  last  efficient  Byzantine  Emperor. 
He  died  in  565  A.D.,  and  Italy  soon  after,  during  the 
sixth,  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  came  under  the  rule 
of  the  Exarchs,  Narses  being  the  first  to  govern  as  such. 
There  were  seventeen  Exarchs  in  all,  who  made  the 
lives  of  the  people  most  miserable.  As  a  civic  officer, 
the  Exarch  was  a  kind  of  a  prefect  or  viceroy,  and  as 
an  ecclesiastic  his  duties  were  varied. 

Narses  ruled  Italy  for  fifteen  years  as  Exarch  at 
Ravenna,  and  was  a  very  important  historical  character 
of  the  sixth  century.  But  he  excited  the  jealousy 
of  Justin  II.,  successor  of  Justinian,  who  removed 
him.  Sophia,  the  wife  of  Justin  II.,  is  said  to  have 
sent  Narses  insulting  messages  together  with  a  golden 
distaff,  bidding  him  spin  wool  in  the  apartment  of  the 
women,  since  he  had  none  of  the  great  qualities  of 
manhood.  Narses  retorted  that  he  would  spin  her 
a  thread  the  length  of  which  should  be  the  limit  of  her 
life.  He  then  summoned  the  Lombards  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  land,  hoping  that  his  services  would  be 
needed  to  repel  these  foreign  invaders. 

The  Lombards  whom  Narses  enlisted  were  a  fierce 
nation  of  heathen  who  dwelt  in  Hungary,  and  for 
nearly  two  hundred  years,  from  570  to  744,  kept  the 
whole  Italian  nation  in  a  ferment.  The  ferocious 
Lombard  warrior,  Alboin,  soon  arrived  in  northern 
Italy  with  his  vast  hordes,  and  in  the  course  of  time 
a  large  portion  of  the  Italian  peninsula  was  wrested 
by  them  from  the  Eastern  Empire.  The  Lombard 


New  Italy  7 

duchies,  that  portion  which  was  afterwards  called 
the  Southern  Regno,  were  soon  developed.  These 
formed  the  "  Theme  of  Lombardy,"  finally  including 
in  its  boundaries  Gseta,  Naples,  the  islands  of  Sicily 
and  Sardinia,  and  the  extremities  of  Calabria,  the  most 
southern  portion  of  Italy,  which  was  a  little  later  held 
by  the  Byzantine  Greeks. 

Alboin  assumed  the  title  of  King  of  the  Lombards 
and  made  his  captains  counts  and  dukes  over  provinces 
which  became  his  fiefs ;  but  he  continued  to  be  a  bar- 
barian, amusing  himself  in  his  carousals  like  any  sav- 
age, until  finally  he  was  murdered  in  573  by  his  wife 
Rosamund,  daughter  of  Kunimund,  Queen  of  the 
Gepidae,  because  in  a  drunken  revel  he  forced  her  to 
drink  from  her  father's  skull. 

There  were  thirty-two  Lombard  kings  in  all. 
Autharis,  the  most  celebrated  of  these,  was  distin- 
guished for  valor  and  great  deeds.  He  was  success- 
ful in  warding  off  three  eruptions  of  the  Franks,  who 
were  trying  to  force  their  way  into  the  plains  of 
northern  Italy.  Rotharis  and  Grimoald  were  law- 
makers, the  latter  a  reformer  of  his  predecessors' 
codes.  Luitprand  conquered  Ravenna  and  Aistolphus 
tried  to  get  possession  of  the  power  at  Rome,  but  was 
outwitted  by  Pepin  the  Short.  Desiderius  was  the 
last  King  of  the  Lombards  and  was  subdued  by 
Charlemagne.  The  rest  of  the  Lombard  rulers  were 
scarcely  more  than  figureheads. 

Pavia  was  the  capital  of  the  Lombard  kingdom, 
and  during  the  reign  of  Autharis  Gregory  the  Great 
was  Universal  Bishop  and  the  only  real  ruler  of  Rome 
during  the  troublous  times  between  590  and  604. 
Gregory  was  of  aristocratic  family,  and,  after  being 
Senator  and  governor,  he  had,  when  the  Lombards 


8  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

arrived,  been  promoted  to  the  office  of  praetor.  Be- 
sides fulfilling-  his  duties  with  dignity  and  pomp,  he 
appropriated  a  large  income  to  the  needs  of  the  State. 
After  coming  into  the  possession  of  great  wealth 
through  the  death  of  his  father,  he  became  a  monk  of 
St.  Benedict  and  dedicated  the  whole  of  his  property 
to  the  establishment  of  charitable  institutions.  Thus 
the  power  of  the  Church  commenced,  not  at  first 
because  the  officers  of  Christ  sought  lands  and  wealth 
for  their  own  uses,  but  because  they  really  were  seek- 
ing to  be  ministers  of  mercy  to  the  suffering  and 
needy.  Men  of  means  entered  the  monasteries,  and 
since  all  that  they  had  before  owned  was  now  given  to 
the  Church,  that  body  became  very  rich,  and,  wealth 
being  power,  more  powerful  than  the  State  itself.  Six 
monasteries  in  Sicily  were  of  Gregory's  founding,  and 
he  himself  lived  in  one  of  his  own  asylums,  which  had 
once  been  his  estate  on  the  Caelian  Hill.  Here  he 
gave  up  his  time  to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  to  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures,  subsisting  all  the  while  on  the 
meanest  diet.  It  was  at  this  time  that  his  mother, 
who  lived  in  an  adjacent  convent,  used  to  bring  him 
pulse  in  a  massive  silver  dish,  the  last  relic  of  their 
former  great  prosperity.  One  day,  however,  touched 
by  the  pitiable  condition  of  a  shipwrecked  sailor,  he 
presented  the  poor  wayfarer  with  this  heirloom. 

It  was  Gregory  the  Great  who  commenced  the  con- 
version of  the  Britons  to  Christianity.  Some  English 
slave  children  in  the  market  in  Rome  attracted  his 
attention ;  and,  on  account  of  their  fair  skins  and  lovely 
faces,  he  called  them  angels  or  engels,  and  some  think 
the  word  Angles  or  English  came  from  this  incident; 
and  there  are  others  who  say  he  punned  on  the  letters 
of  the  word  Angles,  and  said  that  they  would  be  little 


New  Italy  9 

"  Engels  "  if  they  could  be  converted  to  Christianity. 
The  thought  of  their  conversion  so  occupied  his  mind 
that  he  obtained  a  dispensation  to  preach  the  Gospel 
to  the  Anglo-Saxons  in  England ;  but  when  the  people 
saw  him  starting  out  for  that  field  they  raised  such  a 
clamour  at  the  thought  of  losing  him,  that  he  had  to 
turn  back ;  and  it  was  soon  after  this,  in  590,  that  he 
was  chosen  Pope,  then  called  Universal  Bishop.  It 
was  Gregory's  wish  that  "he  might  be  unknown  in 
this  life  and  glorious  only  in  the  next."  Accordingly, 
to  escape  this  honor  conferred  upon  him,  he  hid  in  a 
basket  and  was  transported  from  the  city  as  mer- 
chandise, his  retreat  being  revealed,  it  is  said,  by  a 
celestial  light.  Under  him,  forty  missionaries  were 
sent  out  to  England,  and  in  less  than  ten  years  ten 
thousand  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  baptized. 

Just  before  this  a  pestilence  fell  on  Rome,  and 
Gregory  the  Great  made  the  people  form  seven  great 
processions,  consisting  of  all  ages  and  of  every  con- 
dition in  life,  not  excluding  women  and  children.  All 
marched  in  this  singular  cortege,  singing  litanies  and 
entreating  that  the  dire  disease  might  be  stayed;  and 
when  the  plague  ceased  Gregory  thought  that  he  be- 
held an  angel  standing  on  Hadrian's  tomb.  Accord- 
ingly out  of  gratitude  he  had  a  chapel  built  on  its 
summit  and  dedicated  it  to  the  Lord,  calling  it  St.  An- 
gelo.  From  that  time  the  whole  magnificent  round 
structure  has  been  called  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo. 

After  the  death  of  the  Lombard  Autharis,  Theodo- 
linda,  his  beautiful  queen,  whom  he  had  won  romantic- 
ally by  going  in  quest  of  her  himself,  exerted  so 
powerful  an  influence  for  Pope  Gregory,  that  this, 
together  with  Gregory  the  Great's  justice  and  wisdom, 
gained  for  the  Papal  office  such  prestige  that  for  the 


io  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

first  time,  as  has  been  already  noticed,  it  was  exalted 
over  temporal  sovereignty. 

In  the  course  of  the  next  sixty  years  Italy  was 
governed  by  rulers  so  insignificant  in  character  that 
the  most  of  their  names  have  not  been  handed  down. 
Ravenna,  Naples  and  Genoa,  like  Rome  and  Venice, 
were  still  under  the  protection  of  the  great  Byzantine 
Empire;  but,  since  all  the  fighting  men  had  to  be 
employed  against  the  ravages  of  the  Saracens,  there 
was  not  sufficient  force  to  keep  down  the  Lombards 
in  the  North,  until  at  last  Pope  Gregory  III.  called 
to  his  aid  the  great  Prankish  general,  Charles  Martel, 
who  had  driven  back  the  Saracens  on  the  3d  of 
October,  732,  at  the  Battle  of  Tours,  and  had  been 
rewarded  for  his  valor  by  receiving  Aquitania  as  a 
gift.  Although  Charles  Martel  did  little  for  the 
Church,  Aquitania  was  divided  between  his  two  sons ; 
and  the  elder,  Pepin,  was  afterwards  made  Patriarch 
of  Rome  by  Pope  Stephen  as  a  reward  for  endowing 
the  Church  with  lands  taken  from  the  Lombard  ruler 
Aistolphus.  Pepin  soon  became  King  of  the  Franks 
and  was  the  first  of  the  Carlovingian  line.  He  is 
known  in  history  as  Pepin  the  Short. 

Charlemagne,  son  of  Pepin,  broke  up  the  Lombard 
kingdom,  which  had  lasted  two  hundred  years,  when 
at  Pavia,  in  773,  he  overcame  Desiderius,  the  last 
Lombard  ruler;  and  ever  afterwards  he  was  recog- 
nized as  King  of  the  Franks  and  Lombards. 

A  dramatic  scene  in  the  old  Church  of  St.  Peter's  at 
Rome  in  reality  opens  the  page  of  history  for  New 
Italy.  Pope  Leo  III.  had  been  imprisoned  in  a  mon- 
astery by  the  Duke  of  Spoleto,  and  Charlemagne,  to 
whom  he  had  fled  for  aid,  sent  him  back  to  Rome 
before  the  Christmas  of  800  A.D.  Having  assumed 


New  Italy  II 

the  garb  of  a  Patrician,  Charlemagne  appeared  in  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  Peter's.  While  he  was  kneeling  in 
prayer  Pope  Leo  stepped  forward  and  placed  upon  his 
head  the  crown  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  great 
dome  resounding  with  the  peoples'  acclamation: 
"  Long  life  and  victory  to  Charles,  crowned  of  God, 
the  great  peace-giving  Emperor  of  the  Romans." 
The  Western  Empire  then  breathed  again;  and  from 
that  date  a  new  era  opened  for  Europe.  As  a  reward 
for  the  gift,  Charlemagne  gave  to  the  Church  Spoleto, 
the  nucleus  of  what  was  later  the  Papal  States;  and 
the  Popes  were  temporal  sovereigns  in  Italy  through 
the  whole  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty;  for,  although 
Charlemagne  by  his  great  statesmanship,  during  a 
reign  of  forty  years,  held  Italy  as  well  as  France,  a 
part  of  Spain,  Germany  and  Hungary  together,  and 
his  dominion  was  washed  by  the  British  Channel,  the 
North,  Baltic  and  Mediterranean  seas  and  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  he  rarely  resided  in  Rome,  and  his  successors 
were  mere  figureheads.  Accordingly  the  great  net- 
work of  government  he  had  held  securely  together 
soon  fell  to  pieces.  Gibbon  says  that  of  all  the  princes 
who  received  the  appellation  of  the  "  Great,"  Charle- 
magne is  the  only  one  in  whose  favor  the  title  has  been 
indissolubly  blended  with  the  name. 

Louis  the  Pious,  Charlemagne's  son,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  at  Verdun  in 
843,  was  followed,  in  the  government  of  Italy,  by  his 
son  Lothair.  The  kingdoms  of  Germany  and  France 
were  at  this  time  separated  from  each  other,  the 
former  still  adhering  in  a  sense  to  Italy.  In  Lothair's 
reign  the  Saracens  made  such  inroads,  that  among 
the  defences  against  them  the  Vatican  was  for  the 
first  time  surrounded  by  walls.  Louis  II.  succeeded 


12  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Lothair  and  on  his  death  the  throne  was  disputed  tiy 
his  uncles  and  cousins.  Gibbon  says :  "  The  dregs  of 
the  Carlovingian  race  no  longer  exhibited  any  symp- 
toms of  virtue  or  power,  and  the  ridiculous  epithets 
of  the  '  bard,'  the  '  fat,'  the  '  stammerer,'  and  the 
'  simple,'  distinguished  the  tame  and  uniform  features 
of  a  crowd  of  kings,  alike  deserving  of  oblivion." 
Charles  the  Fat  was  the  last  Emperor  of  his  family, 
he  having  been  deposed  in  a  Diet  on  account  of 
incapacity. 

The  old  Lombard  dukedoms  were  now  reduced  to 
Tuscany,  Ivrea,  Friuli,  Susa,  and  Spoleto.  Tuscany 
was  the  most  prosperous ;  but  the  quarrels  of  these 
dukes  after  the  fall  of  the  Carlovingian  line  were 
fierce  and  never-ending.  After  this,  those  who  could 
appear  at  the  gates  of  Rome  with  the  largest  armies 
were  crowned  Emperors  in  the  Vatican,  but  usually 
they  were  only  Kings  of  Italy.  There  were  Lambert 
and  Berengarius  and  the  able  Arnulf,  descended  from 
Charlemagne  in  an  illegitimate  line,  and  Louis  of 
Provence,  besides  other  pretenders.  While  Berenga- 
rius was  fighting  the  Saxons  and  Hungarians,  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  affairs  at  home  to  the  nobles  and 
monks  whom  he  authorized  to  fortify  their  residences 
in  order  to  better  secure  themselves  from  assault.  In 
this  way  Italy  first  became  covered  with  castles  and 
fortresses,  which  was  the  beginning  of  the  peninsula 
being  cut  up  into  isolated  states  having  their  own 
militia,  officers  and  magistrates.  Thus  divided  be- 
tween "  feudal  nobles  and  hereditary  ecclesiastics,"  all 
national  feeling  in  Italy  was  stifled. 

Anarchy  and  misery  are  the  most  prominent  features 
of  that  long  space  of  time  between  the  death  of  Charle- 
magne and  the  descent  of  Otto  the  Great  into  Italy 


New  Italy  13 

in  951 ;  and  during  the  tenth  century  the  civil  and 
religious  functions  were  united  and  became  heredi- 
tary in  the  family  of  the  Counts  of  Tusculum. 

After  the  death  of  Formosus,  who  crowned  Arnulf, 
the  Popes  followed  each  other  in  quick  succession, 
until  eleven  had  passed  away,  some  not  reigning  ten 
months,  and  others  not  even  as  many  days.  During 
the  last  half  of  the  tenth  century  two  very  depraved 
women  decided  the  politics  of  the  times  to  a  great 
degree,  setting  up  Popes  and  putting  them  down  at 
will.  These  women  were  Theodora,  called  the  Sena- 
trix,  and  her  daughter  Marozia,  the  mother  of  Alberich, 
who  was  the  son  of  her  first  husband  Alberich  of 
Spoleto. 

Alberich  was  one  of  the  best  rulers  Rome  ever  knew, 
and  for  twenty  years  succeeded  in  bringing  order  and 
respectability  into  the  society  of  Italy.  His  govern- 
ment was  republican,  and  he  was  known  as  "  Prince ps 
atque  omnium  Romanorum  Senator" ;  the  foundation 
of  his  power  being  the  right  of  the  Roman  people  to 
choose  their  own  ruler  in  spite  of  any  who  might  call 
themselves  Emperor.  He  had  gained  the  power  by 
shutting  up  his  infamous  mother  Marozia  in  prison; 
but  at  the  same  time,  Hugh  of  Provence,  his  step- 
father, continued  King  of  Italy  outside  of  Rome; 
until  driven  to  desperation  by  the  many  conspiracies 
against  him  he  gave  up  the  power,  appointing  his  son 
king  at  Milan,  as  Lothair  II.  The  latter,  after  his 
father's  death,  -became  a  victim  of  Berengarius  II., 
who  himself  was  declared  King  of  Italy. 

Thus  matters  stood  when  in  the  year  951  Otto  of 
Saxony,  known  as  Otto  the  Great,  invaded  Italy  and 
conquered  the  kingdom.  He  compelled  Berengarius 
II.  to  surrender,  and,  after  imprisoning  him  in  the 


14  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Castle  of  Bamberga  in  Germany,  he  liberated  and  mar- 
ried Adelaide,  the  charming  wife  of  Lothair,  whom 
Berengarius  had  imprisoned  in  an  old  castle  because 
she  refused  to  espouse  his  son.  The  coronation  of 
Otto  in  962  was  considered  a  revival  of  the  old  Empire ; 
for  up  to  this  time,  ever  since  Charlemagne,  the  Italian 
rulers  had  only  been  kings  of  a  part  of  Italy  with  a 
meaningless  title. 

Otto  the  Great's  life  henceforth  was  spent  in  travel- 
ing back  and  forth  from  Germany  to  Italy  settling 
disputes,  since  Berengarius  II.  and  Alberich's  son 
Octavian,  who  was  Pope  John  XIL,  forgot  all  their 
pledges  and  kept  rising  over  and  over  again  in  rebel- 
lion. During  the  last  six  years  of  Otto's  occupancy 
of  Italy  he  deposed  Pope  John  XIL,  who  lacked  all 
the  good  qualities  of  his  father,  Alberich.  He  was 
criticised  as  an  inefficient  temporal  ruler  and  accused 
as  Pope  of  being  a  perjurer,  murderer  and  plunderer 
of  the  Church.  Otto  had  shown  his  lack  of  confidence 
in  Roman  sincerity  as  far  back  as  the  time  when  he 
was  crowned  by  Pope  John  XIL,  and  had  told  his 
sword-bearer  to  watch,  saying :  "  While  I  am  praying 
in  St.  Peter's  keep  your  sword  close  to  my  head,  since 
when  we  reach  Monte  Mario  you  will  have  time  to 
pray  as  much  as  you  like." 

Otto  the  Great  at  last  died  in  Rome  in  983,  leaving 
a  record  for  great  deeds  and  a  reputation  for  valor  and 
wisdom  which  posterity  has  honored.  In  view  of  a 
plan  to  unite  the  Eastern  and  Western  Empires,  he 
had  brought  about  the  marriage  of  his  son,  Otto  II., 
with  Theophania,  the  daughter  of  the  Greek  Byzantine 
Emperor  at  Constantinople. 

Otto  II.  spent  but  little  of  his  short  reign  in  Italy, 
and  during  the  minority  of  his  son,  Otto  III.,  the 


New  Italy  15 

Romans  set  up  a  municipal  government  under  a  man 
named  Crescentius,  a  citizen  of  great  wealth  and  noble 
family,  descended  from  Theodora  and  Pope  John  X. ; 
but  Crescentius  failed  because  he  had  none  of  the  well- 
defined  principles  of  Alberich. 

Otto  III.,  after  having  passed  a  sentence  of  banish- 
ment against  Crescentius,  was  crowned  by  Gregory  V., 
his  own  appointed  Pope,  in  996  A.D.  ;  but  when  Otto 
went  back  to  Germany  Crescentius  rose  again,  and 
Otto,  returning,  recaptured  the  rebel  in  the  Castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  afterwards  sometimes  called  the  Tower 
of  Crescentius.  Notwithstanding  that  the  latter  had 
surrendered  on  condition  of  his  life  being  spared, 
Otto  had  him  beheaded  with  twelve  of  his  companions. 

Since  the  days  of  Nicholas  I.,  under  Louis  the  Pious, 
there  had  never  been  such  a  vigorous  assertion  of 
Papal  rights  as  at  this  epoch.  It  is  even  thought  that 
Gerbert,  Otto  III.'s  old  tutor,  whom  he  had  made 
Sylvester  II.,  was  the  first  to  agitate  the  subject  of  pil- 
grimages to  the  holy  places  of  the  East,  the  outcome 
of  which  was  the  Crusades.  Under  Sylvester  II.'s  in- 
fluence Otto  III.  spent  his  time  in  fasting  and  prayer 
and  pilgrimages,  devoting  most  of  his  means  to 
churches  and  monasteries  and  neglecting  the  affairs  of 
the  world  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  finally  com- 
pelled by  the  Crescentian  party  to  leave  the  city.  Up 
to  this  time  he  had  intended  to  make  Italy  his  home, 
having  built  in  Rome  a  splendid  palace,  where  he  lived 
in  the  Byzantine  style. 

When  Otto  was  about  to  return  from  a  banishment 
of  some  years,  he  was  attacked  with  a  deadly  Italian 
fever  and  died  in  the  winter  of  1002  A.D.,  at  the  early 
age  of  twenty-two.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that  he  was 
poisoned  by  Stephanie,  the  wife  of  Crescentius. 


16  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Thus  Otto  the  Great's  plan  of  a  Holy  Roman  Ger- 
man Byzantine  Empire  fell  to  pieces  at  the  death  of 
his  grandson.  The  government  of  Rome,  though  sub- 
ject to  the  Pope  for  a  time,  resembled  that  set  up  by 
Crescentius ;  but  this  declined  under  the  corrupt  rulers 
of  the  great  House  of  Tusculum. 


The  Republics  17 


CHAPTER  II 

BEGINNING  OF  THE  ITALIAN  REPUBLICS. — THE  FRANCO- 
NIAN  KINGS  AS  EMPERORS. THE  NORMAN  CON- 
QUEST.  GUELPHS  AND  GHIBELLINES. HILDEBRAND. 

— THE    HOHENSTAUFEN. — FREDERICK    BARBAROSSA. — 
THE  LOMBARD  LEAGUE. 

1002—1190    A.D. 

A^TER  the  fall  of  the  Carlovingian  line,  the  quar- 
rels among  the  petty  dukes  who  aspired  to  be 
Kings  of  Italy,  and  the  inroads  of  Hungarians  and 
other  barbarian  nations,  had  caused  the  people  to 
gather  in  the  cities  for  mutual  defence.  The  feudal 
nobles  soon  retired  to  fortified  heights,  and  the  cities, 
partially  rid  of  their  tyranny,  increased  in  importance 
and  at  a  redoubled  rate.  Naples,  Amalfi,  Pisa  and 
Venice  had  thus  gained  a  considerable  degree  of  inde- 
pendence outside  of  the  Lombard  rule;  and  now,  if 
all  the  cities  had  united,  they  could  have  formed  a 
great  and  vigorous  nation.  As  it  was,  in  Otto  the 
Great's  reign  the  powerful  Italian  kingdom  founded 
by  the  early  Lombards  ceased  to  exist;  and  with  its 
subversion  the  only  hope  of  a  united  Italy  vanished. 
A  little  later,  however,  the  most  brilliant  period  of 
Lombard's  independent  history  came  about  with  the 
fall  of  the  dukedoms  and  rise  of  the  Commune. 

The  government  in  these  Lombard  cities,  which,  in 
the  eleventh  century  became  embryo  republics,  was 
carried  on  by  two  consuls  chosen  by  the  people,  each  of 
the  rising  commonwealths  having  two  councils.  The 
more  general  of  these  carried  out  the  measures  of  the 


i8  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

city  government,  and  the  other,  which  was  called  the 
Great  Council  or  Senate,  discussed  all  the  new  decrees. 
The  highest  power,  however,  was  centered  in  the  people 
themselves.  When  special  measures  were  to  be  con- 
sidered the  big  bell  tolled,  calling  all  the  citizens  to  a 
general  Council  or  Parliament  in  the  city  square. 

After  Otto  III.'s  death  the  Lombard  nobles,  as- 
sisted by  Pavia,  tried  to  resuscitate  the  defunct  State 
by  electing  Arduin  Magnus  of  Ivrea,  while  Milan 
chose  Henry  of  Bavaria,  afterwards  Henry  II.  Thus 
the  long-continued  contest  began  which  put  an  end 
to  kings  in  Italy  up  to  the  time  of  Victor  Emanuel  II., 
the  Pavian  party  sustaining  Arduin  until  he  with- 
drew and  Henry  II.  was  chosen.  The  latter  died  in 
1024,  and  Conrad  II.,  who  succeeded  him,  confined 
his  attention  to  the  conquest  of  Burgundy,  leaving  the 
government  of  Italy  to  the  nobles  and  bishops. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Milan  started  out  on  that 
brilliant  career  for  which  she  has  ever  since  been  dis- 
tinguished. Her  ascendancy  over  the  burghs  of  Lom- 
bardy  commenced  when  Heribert,  the  archbishop, 
organized  the  population  into  an  independent  com- 
munity. It  was  he  who  originated  the  Carroccio,  a 
huge  car  drawn  by  oxen,  bearing  the  standard  of  the 
burgh  and  carrying  an  altar  on  which  the  Crucifixion 
was  portrayed  and  the  Host  uplifted.  This  formed  a 
rallying  point  in  battle  and  played  an  important  role  in 
the  warfare  between  the  Italian  cities  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  loss  of  the  Carroccio  being  an  indication  of 
most  crushing  defeat. 

Conrad  II.,  having  heard  that  Heribert  was  assum- 
ing too  much  authority,  came  to  the  rescue  of  the 
lesser  nobles;  and  although  as  archbishop  he  had  in- 
vited the  king  to  Italy  and  crowned  him  with  the  Iron 


The  Republics  19 

Crown  of  Lombardy,  Conrad  II.  deposed  and  impris- 
oned Heribert.  Conrad  died  soon  after  returning  to 
Italy,  and  Henry  III.,  his  successor,  set  in  motion  far- 
reaching  reforms  in  Rome,  where  scandalous  anarchy 
reigned  under  an  utterly  demoralized  priesthood. 
After  settling  up  the  quarrels  of  ten  Popes,  who  had 
one  after  the  other  disgraced  the  Papacy,  one  of  the 
incumbents  being  a  boy  of  only  ten  years,  Conrad 
placed  Leo  IX.  in  the  Papal  Chair. 

At  this  time  three  hundred  Norman  knights  had 
been  enlisted  by  the  Greek  Byzantine  Emperor  to  help 
drive  the  Saracens  out  of  Sicily.  After  fierce  disputes 
among  themselves  about  the  distribution  of  the  spoils, 
these  knights,  captivated  with  the  climate  of  southern 
Italy,  and  delighted  with  the  soil,  united  under  Robert 
Guiscard  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  the  whole  southern 
Regno  for  themselves.  At  the  Battle  of  Civitella,  in 
1053,  the  Papal  party  was  defeated  and  Pope  Leo  IX. 
taken  prisoner;  but,  respecting  his  sanctity,  the  Nor- 
mans made  concessions,  agreeing  to  accept  as  fiefs 
of  the  Holy  See  Apulia,  Calabria,  and  Sicily,  where 
Henry  II.  had  already  given  them  leave  to  settle.  This 
was  a  valuable  stepping-stone  to  the  future  advance- 
ment of  the  Papacy;  but  it  was  the  cause  of  many 
disturbances  in  Italy  afterwards,  since  the  power 
gained  in  this  way  by  Robert  Guiscard,  and  later  by 
his  brother,  the  great  Count  Roger,  was  the  means  of 
their  family  finally  acquiring  all  Sicily ;  for  after  thirty 
years,  the  Normans  wrested  the  whole  island  from  the 
Saracens,  and  Roger  at  his  death  bequeathed  to  his 
son  of  the  same  name  Calabria  and  Sicily,  a  kingdom 
which  afterwards  became  the  most  flourishing  in 
Europe. 

Up  to  1130  the  Apulian  Duchy  was  held  as  a  duke- 


20  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

dom  by  the  Hauteville  family,  the  descendants  of 
Robert  Guiscard ;  but  at  this  date  Apulia  and  Calabria, 
included  in  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  were  united  with 
Sicily  into  what  was  called  the  "  Two  Sicilies,"  and 
Count  Roger  II.  obtaining  the  crown  of  the  United 
Kingdom  by  Papal  Investiture,  Naples  became  the 
capital.  This  kingdom  assumed  and  developed  a 
more  feudal  character  than  the  governments  of  the 
rest  of  Italy,  and  for  six  hundred  years,  with  few  inter- 
missions, this  Regno  continued  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy 
See.  The  Norman  conquest  of  the  Two  Sicilies  forms 
a  most  romantic  episode  in  mediaeval  Italian  history. 

The  Greek  maritime  cities,  Naples,  Gaeta  and  Amalfi, 
which  had  flourished  earlier,  increasing  their  trade  in 
the  East  by  monopolizing  the  Mediterranean,  were 
crippled  by  the  Normans,  and  in  time  gave  place  to 
Genoa,  Pisa  and  Venice.  These  prosperous  cities 
also  carried  on  domestic  manufactures  and  all  were 
liberty-loving  and  independent.  The  crusades,  which 
commenced  in  1099  under  Urban  IL,  greatly  enriched 
these  maritime  towns,  and  it  was  then  that  Pisa,  at  the 
climax  of  her  glory  and  splendor,  built  her  famous 
Cathedral,  Baptistery,  and  Leaning  Tower. 

An  assembly  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  bishops  was 
called  together  by  Pope  Nicholas  II.  in  1060  to  decide 
upon  the  election  of  the  Pope  by  the  cardinals,  and 
after  this  time  the  Pope  was  recognized  as  the  head  of 
all  the  Latin  churches  in  the  West.  Henceforth  the 
Papacy  was  every  priest's  goal,  and  persons  of  every 
rank  and  of  every  degree  of  morality  were  placed  in 
the  Pontifical  Chair. 

For  some  years  before  Henry  III/s  death  the 
Church  of  Rome  had  been  under  the  guidance  of 
Archbishop  Hildebrand.  The  ability  of  this  future 


The  Republics  21 

great  prelate,  while  he  was  still  an  unknown  monk  in 
Tuscany,  was  directed  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
Church.  He  conceived  in  the  solitude  of  his  cloister 
a  plan  for  subjugating  the  world  to  Papal  power.  A 
married  priest  was  a  criminal  in  his  eyes ;  and  he  also 
determined  to  stop  the  practice  of  simony.  These  were 
the  two  great  causes  of  weakness  in  the  Church;  for 
marriage  placed  the  priest  on  the  same  footing  as  other 
men,  and  the  barter  of  office  divested  the  clergy  of  the 
sacredness  of  their  [character.  Up  to  this  time  the 
Pope  had  really  been  only  a  Universal  Bishop,  but 
now  he  received  the  name  of  Pope  as  a  specific  title, 
and  was  declared  to  be  God's  vice-gerent  on  earth, 
and  a  being  too  holy  to  sin.  The  Pope's  influence 
soon  became  so  arbitrary  that  no  king  could  keep  his 
throne  without  the  consent  of  the  Pontiff;  and  finally 
"  inauguration  by  the  hand  of  His  Holiness  became 
essential  to  a  title  to  the  crown."  This  was  called  the 
"  Right  of  Investiture." 

In  the  year  1073,  after  having  refused  the  office  a 
number  of  times,  Hildebrand  was  appointed  Pope  as 
Gregory  VII.  His  talents  were  of  the  highest  order 
and  his  mind  was  deep  and  far-reaching.  He  and 
Henry  IV.  soon  came  into  collision  on  the  subject  of 
the  "Right  of  Investiture."  Henry  IV.  denounced 
the  Pope,  and  the  latter  retaliated  by  excommunicating 
the  king,  a  Council  being  called  by  the  princes  to 
elect  another  ruler.  It  was  then  that  Henry  IV. 
crossed  the  Alps,  covered  deep  in  ice  and  snow,  to 
beg  the  angry  Papal  potentate  to  grant  him  pardon. 
Henry's  deep  humiliation  at  Canossa,  the  castle  of 
the  great  Countess  Mathilda  of  Tuscany,  burned  itself 
into  the  heart  of  the  world  for  all  time. 

Mathilda  was  the  daughter  of  that  Countess  Beatrice 


22  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

whom  Henry  III.,  jealous  of  the  united  power  estab- 
lished by  her  marriage  with  Godfrey  of  Lorraine,  had 
kept  in  prison  until  his  own  death.  Mathilda  her- 
self became  the  wife  of  Godfrey's  son,  her  stepbrother. 
Both  she  and  her  mother  from  the  first  had  been  enthu- 
siastic followers  of  the  "  Cluny  regime,"  which  was 
Hildebrand's  policy.  This  had  found  expression  in  the 
cloisters  at  Cluny  in  what  was  called  the  "  Tregua 
Dei"  (The  Truce  of  God),  according  to  which  all 
feuds  in  battle  were  forbidden  from  Wednesday  even- 
ing until  Monday  morning.  This  had  first  been  put  in 
practice  in  the  time  of  Henry  III.  During  the  long 
conflict  which  followed,  the  Popes  were  never  without 
shelter  from  violence  so  long  as  they  could  reach  the 
protection  of  the  Tuscan  frontier ;  for  the  fiefs  of  the 
great  Countess  Mathilda  stretched  from  Mantua  across 
Lombardy,  passed  the  Apennines,  included  the  Tuscan 
plains  and  embraced  a  portion  of  the  Duchy  of  Spoleto. 

After  Henry  IV.  had  waited  three  days  and  three 
nights  in  the  frost  and  snow  outside  in  the  court  of 
Countess  Mathilda's  great  castle,  Gregory  VII.  ab- 
solved him,  but  in  terms  so  degrading  that  the  king 
returned  to  Germany  to  wait  for  a  chance  to  reopen 
hostilities.  At  last,  having  fought  the  Pope  intermit- 
tently for  three  years,  this  much  injured  sovereign 
routed  Gregory's  forces,  supplied  by  the  Countess 
Mathilda,  and  was  crowned  Emperor  by  Guibert, 
Archbishop  of  Ravenna,  whom  he  had  himself 
appointed  Pope  as  Clement  III. 

Henry,  however,  was  obliged  to  withdraw  from 
Rome  when  Robert  Guiscard's  army  returned  from  the 
East  and  entered  the  city  to  devastate,  destroy  and 
pillage.  Gregory  died  in  1085  during  a  voluntary 
banishment  among  the  Normans,  uttering  anathemas 


The  Republics  23 

against  Henry  with  his  last  breath,  and  saying1:  "I 
have  loved  justice  and  hated  iniquity,  therefore  I  die 
in  exile."  After  twenty  years  of  fierce  fighting  with 
Gregory  VII. 's  successors,  Henry  IV.  was  driven  out 
of  Italy  and  dethroned  by  his  son,  Henry  V.,  dying  in 
1 1 06  in  poverty  and  exile. 

In  1 122,  after  a  further  struggle  of  fifteen  years, 
there  was  a  compromise  called  "  The  Concordat  of 
Worms,"  made  between  Henry  V.  and  the  Papal 
powers.  The  Pope  ostensibly  resigned  the  temporal 
and  the  Emperor  really,  the  spiritual  privileges  of 
Investiture ;  but  the  advantage  was  left  with  the  Papal 
party;  for  the  Pope  became  independent  of  the 
Emperor,  while  the  Emperor's  crown  for  several  cen- 
turies came  from  the  hand  of  the  Pope.  Countess 
Mathilda,  when  she  died  in  1115,  left  the  Church  all 
her  vast  possessions;  and  from  this  time  on,  owing 
to  her  action,  the  Popes  were  elected  by  a  Roman 
Council.  Consequently  the  Holy  See  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  Italians,  and  became  the  great  glory  of 
the  nation. 

During  the  three-quarters  of  a  century  that  the 
struggle  over  Papal  Investiture  had  been  going  on, 
Italy  had  not  been  standing  still.  The  most  conspicu- 
ous cities  of  northern  and  central  Italy,  Milan, 
Venice,  Genoa,  Bologna,  Siena,  and  Perugia,  had  be- 
come flourishing  republics,  and  the  old  feudal  nobility 
was  gradually  passing  away.  This  is  said  to  have 
been  the  age  of  real  autonomy.  Popes  and  Emperors 
who  needed  the  assistance  of  a  city  had  to  seek  it  from 
the  consuls,  and  thus  the  office  came  to  resemble  the 
presidency  of  a  commonwealth.  A  great  council  of 
privileged  burghers,  which  for  a  time  formed  the 
aristocracy  of  the  town,  stood  between  the  Parliament 


24  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

and  the  consuls,  while  the  "  Commune  "  included  the 
entire  body  politic — bishops,  consuls,  oligarchy,  hand- 
craftsmen  and  the  poor. 

No  sooner  had  the  compromise  of  Investiture  been 
concluded  than  the  commonwealths  turned  their  arms 
against  each  other,  concordant  action  for  a  national 
end  being  impossible  for  many  centuries.  Pisa  sought 
to  destroy  Amain ;  Genoa  and  Florence  attacked  Pisa, 
and  Venice  fought  Genoa,  while  Verona  absorbed 
Padua,  Treviso,  etc. ;  but  Milan  all  the  while  was  the 
great  center  of  the  republican  cities  of  northern  Italy, 
and  it  was  she  who  soon  engulfed  the  lesser  towns  of 
Lombardy. 

As  the  new  republics  increased  in  importance  they 
needed  more  territory.  This  they  wrested  from  the 
nobles,  who  in  the  course  of  a  century  were  forced  to 
leave  their  castles  and  live  in  towns.  They  proved 
bad  neighbors,  and  engendered  such  strife  among  the 
peaceable  burghers  that  the  war  against  the  castles 
was  changed  to  a  war  against  the  palaces.  In  turn  the 
fortified  residences  defied  the  consuls;  and  this  was 
the  way  the  "  Age  of  the  Despots  "  commenced  and  the 
end  of  the  republics  came  about. 

These  turbulent  forces  produced  a  sympathetic 
revolution  in  Rome  led  by  Arnold  da  Brescia,  the 
"  Patriarch  of  Pontifical  Heretics,"  as  he  has  been 
called,  and  the  forerunner  of  all  reformers.  After  hav- 
ing been  exiled  in  1139  on  account  of  his  bold  censure 
of  the  clergy,  he  returned  for  the  purpose  of  urging 
reforms  in  the  government  of  Rome.  This  resulted 
in  the  proclaiming  Rome  a  republic,  with  a  civil  sys- 
tem much  like  that  of  the  republican  cities  of  Lom- 
bardy. The  Popes  as  they  succeded  each  other  wrote 
to  Conrad  III.  to  come  down  and  quell  the  disturb- 


The  Republics  25 

ances;  but  the  king  was  too  much  occupied  to  inter- 
fere or  to  seek  the  sovereignty  of  Rome,  and  accord- 
ingly was  never  crowned  as  Emperor. 

It  was  in  the  time  of  the  Saxon,  Lothair  L,  Con- 
rad's predecessor,  that  the  war  between  the  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines  commenced,  the  former  being  the 
Church  party  and  the  latter  the  Emperor's  faction. 
The  Guelphs  were  named  from  Welf  of  Bavaria,  de- 
scended from  the  old  Welf,  whose  daughter  was  the 
wife  of  Louis  the  Pious;  and  the  Ghibellines  from 
Waibling,  a  castle  of  the  original  Hohenstaufen  near 
Mount  Staufen.  The  different  factions  were  distin- 
guishable by  different  devices,  the  Ghibellines  wearing 
the  feather  on  their  hats  on  one  side,  the  Guelphs  on 
the  other,  the  Ghibellines  cutting  their  meat  crosswise, 
the  Guelphs  straight,  etc.  In  this  way  crimes  were 
often  detected,  one  man  being  prosecuted  on  account 
of  the  way  he  sliced  his  garlic. 

In  Conrad's  time  the  excitement  increased  in  vio- 
lence, and  the  war-cries  "  Guelph  "  and  "  Ghibelline  " 
were  first  used. 

Frederick  Barbarossa,  the  successor  of  Conrad  III., 
was  first  called  down  into  Italy  in  the  interest  of  the 
town  of  Lodi,  which  was  being  oppressed  by  Milan. 
The  Guelph  party  was  now  led  by  Milan  and  the 
Emperor's  faction  by  Pavia;  and,  after  a  Diet  held 
at  -Roncaglia  near  Piacenza,  Barbarossa  proceeded  to 
destroy  Asti,  Chieri,  Tunis  and  Tortona,  because 
Pavia  and  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  brought  accusa- 
tions against  them.  Barbarossa  was  thereupon  pre- 
sented with  the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy  at  Pavia; 
and,  though  Milan  had  refused  shelter  and  subsistence 
to  his  army,  he  was  obliged,  on  account  of  the  weak- 
ness of  his  forces,  to  temporarily  ignore  the  slight. 


26         Italy:  Her  People  and   Their  Story 

He  now  went  on  to  Rome  and,  scorning  the  overtures 
of  the  new  republic,  he  entered  the  Leonine  City  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Tiber;  and,  calling  back  the 
exiled  Pope  Hadrian  IV.,  he  was  crowned  by  him.  In 
order,  however,  to  effect  this  he  was  obliged  to  hand 
over  to  Pope  Hadrian,  Arnold  da  Brescia,  who  was 
burned  alive  in  1155  in  the  Piazza  del  Popolo.  The 
Roman  republic  never  recovered  from  that  martyr's 
death,  and  it  soon  fell  to  pieces. 

Barbarossa's  and  Hadrian's  quarrels  then  began, 
first  about  the  provinces  which  Mathilda  of  Tuscany 
had  given  to  the  Church,  and  afterwards  because 
Hadrian  had  confirmed  William  the  Norman  in  his 
claim  to  the  territory  which  Leo  IX.  had  made  over 
to  the  Normans  as  fiefs  to  the  Emperor.  Barbarossa 
even  attempted  to  appropriate  these  southern  prov- 
inces, but  was  driven  back  to  Germany  by  the  burning 
heat. 

In  1158  Barbarossa  returned  to  Italy  and  spent  three 
years  in  trying  to  force  Milan  to  yield.  Year  after 
year  he  ravaged  her  lands,  taxed  her  people  unmerci- 
fully and  appointed  judges  called  Podesta,  who  har- 
assed the  inhabitants  by  their  arbitrary  proceedings. 
At  last  he  besieged  the  city  for  nearly  a  year ;  and  in 
1161,  having  ordered  all  the  inhabitants,  even  those 
sick  unto  death,  to  leave  the  town,  he  gave  up  the  city 
to  unlimited  plunder,  and  after  her  total  destruction 
he  declared  that  the  name  of  Milan  should  be  blotted 
out. 

As  soon  as  Barbarossa  returned  to  Germany  a 
league  was  formed  against  him  by  the  citizens  of 
northeastern  Italy,  Verona,  Vincenza  Padua,  Treviso, 
and  Venice,  and  in  1163,  when  he,  with  a  brilliant  staff 
of  German  knights,  again  crossed  the  Alps,  these 


The  Republics  27 

towns  refused  to  join  his  standard.  Alexander  III., 
in  the  meantime,  had  been  elected  on  the  side  of  the 
League,  and  an  anti-Pope  was  set  up  by  Barbarossa. 
Bergamo,  Brescia,  Mantua  and  Ferrara  united  with 
the  first  League  and,  receiving  the  addition  of  Milan, 
Lodi,  Piacenza,  Parma,  Modena  and  Bologna,  con- 
stituted the  famous  Lombard  League.  Afterwards 
Novara  Vercelli,  Como  and  Asti  joined  it,  and  between 
the  Alps  and  the  Apennines  only  Pavia  and  Mont- 
ferrat  remained  on  the  Imperialist  side.  Then  Bar- 
barossa fled  for  his  life  across  the  Mont  Cenis,  his 
army  having  wasted  away  from  pestilence ;  and  it  was 
six  years  before  he  again  ventured  to  set  foot  in  Italy. 

In  1168,  during  the  Emperor's  absence,  the  town  of 
Alessandria  had  been  built  to  check  the  power  of  Pavia 
and  Montferrat.  It  was  named  after  Alexander  III., 
the  enemy  of  Barbarossa.  Ravenna,  Rimini,  Imola 
and  Forli  now  joined  the  League,  which  was  after- 
wards called  "  The  Society  of  Venice,  Lombardy,  The 
Marches,  Romagna  and  Alessandria." 

Early  in  1176  Barbarossa  once  more  went  down  into 
Italy  with  his  army,  to  again  take  up  the  fight  against 
the  Lombard  cities.  Alessandria  with  its  mud  walls, 
which  the  Emperor  had  contemptuously  declared  were 
made  of  straw,  stopped  his  progress,  and  he  besieged 
it.  But  a  force  of  the  League  already  assembled  at 
Modena  obliged  him  to  desist;  and  a  small  army  met 
his  troops  on  the  plains  of  Legnano  about  fifteen  miles 
from  Milan.  Here  Barbarossa  was  so  badly  beaten 
that  the  battle-field  was  covered  with  his  dead.  The 
Emperor  himself  disappeared  altogether ;  but  three 
days  after  the  battle  he  entered  Pavia  and  opened 
negotiations  with  Pope  Alexander. 

"  For  twenty-two  years  Barbarossa  had  been  strug- 


28  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

gling  against  the  independence  of  Lombardy,  and  with 
seven  different  armies  had  devastated  her  plains,  exer- 
cising every  degree  of  cruelty  upon  her  inhabitants; 
but  the  fatal  Battle  of  Legnano  left  him  powerless;" 
and  in  1183,  at  the  end  of  a  truce  of  six  years,  the  inde- 
pendence of  Lombardy  was  guaranteed.  At  this  time 
the  united  cities  of  the  League  were  so  powerful  that 
they  might  have  made  themselves  a  great  and  pros- 
perous nation  had  they  been  in  accord  with  one  an- 
other. 


Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  29 


CHAPTER  III 

HENRY    VI. — FREDERICK    II. — INNOCENT    III. — BRANCA- 

LEONE. — MANFRED. — CHARLES  OF   ANJOU. 

1190—1880  A.D. 

WHEN  the  news  reached  Europe  that  the  Infidels 
had  taken  Jerusalem,  Frederick  Barbarossa  im- 
mediately set  out  on  the  third  crusade;  but  he  was 
seized  with  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  while  crossing  the 
little  river  Calycadmus  in  Syria  and  drowned. 

Pope  Innocent  III.,  unwilling  to  have  the  southern 
part  of  Italy  absorbed  by  Germany,  opposed  the  nup- 
tials of  Henry  VI.,  Barbarossa's  son,  with  Constance, 
heir  to  the  Two  Sicilies ;  but  in  spite  of  this,  after  the 
death  of  Barbarossa  and  the  decease  of  William  II., 
the  grandson  of  Roger  II.  and  father  of  Constance, 
Henry  VI.  in  1190  inherited  the  vast  power  of  both. 

Henry  VI.  proved  to  be  a  merciless  monarch,  and 
his  reign  was  soon  cut  short,  it  is  thought,  by  poison. 
His  wife  Constance  also  died,  leaving  a  little  son  four 
years  of  age,  who,  after  the  temporary  sovereignty  of 
his  uncle,  Philip,  was  crowned  as  Frederick  II.,  sole 
heir  of  Swabia  and  Sicily.  The  child,  before  his 
mother's  death,  had  been  made  a  ward  of  Pope  Inno- 
cent III. 

Meanwhile  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  wars  grew 
more  and  more  bitter  both  in  Italy  and  in  Germany, 
the  nobles  defending  themselves  in  their  fortresses  on 
the  heights.  In  the  recesses  of  these  strongholds  there 
was  a  donjon,  or  keep,  where,  in  the  last  extremity, 
the  lord  of  the  castle  retired  with  his  family,  friends 


30  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

and  followers,  and  day  and  night  armed  men  kept 
guard  on  the  walls  or  in  a  watch-tower  outside.  We 
gather  from  the  vine-covered  ruins  of  these  fastnesses, 
overlooking  the  fertile  plains  of  Italy,  that,  though 
picturesque  as  relics,  as  homes  they  were  dismal  as 
prisons;  and  except  for  the  romances  of  every-day 
existence  these  lords  and  ladies  must  have  been  de- 
prived of  all  the  attractions  which  at  present  make  the 
dwellings  of  Italy  charming. 

In  the  cities  political  quarrels  were  often  mixed  up 
with  family  disputes.  This  was  the  case  in  Florence, 
where  from  1115,  the  year  that  Countess  Mathilda 
died,  up  to  1215,  there  had  been  peace.  At  this  time 
a  feud  broke  out  between  the  Buondelmonti  and  the 
Uberti  families.  The  representative  of  the  Buondel- 
monti, a  young  man  of  fashion  and  gentility,  was  en- 
gaged to  a  daughter  of  the  Uberti ;  but  he  deserted  her 
for  another  fairer  damsel,  and  one  gala  day  her 
friends,  indignant  at  the  insult,  murdered  the  youth 
in  the  public  square  of  the  city.  All  Florence  inter- 
ested itself  in  this  fatal  quarrel,  the  Guelph  party  rally- 
ing round  the  Buondelmonti,  and  the  Ghibellines  sup- 
porting the  Uberti ;  and  thus  the  feud  continued  for 
thirty  years,  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  power  alter- 
nating in  Tuscany. 

It  was  at  this  same  critical  era  that  the  Welf  Otto, 
son  of  Henry  the  Lion,  came  to  Italy  and  as  Otto  IV. 
received  from  Pope  Innocent  III.  the  crown  of  the 
Empire  which  really  belonged  to  Frederick  II.  When, 
however,  he  tried  also  to  establish  his  rights  to  the 
ever-disputed  territory  of  Countess  Mathilda,  and  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Sicily  for  a  long  time  united  in  fealty 
to  the  Holy  See,  Pope  Innocent,  who  had  hitherto 
thought  little  of  the  welfare  of  his  ward,  deserted  Otto 


Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  31 

and  supported  the  claims  of  Frederick  to  the  Imperial 
crown.  In  this  way  His  Holiness  united  with  the 
Ghibellines,  really  the  Emperor's  faction ;  and  at  the 
same  time  Otto,  the  leader  of  the  Guelph  party,  fought 
the  Pope.  The  cities  also  supported  their  own  candi- 
dates respectively,  some  Papal  towns  adhering  to  Otto 
and  some  Ghibelline  cities  joining  Frederick,  who  was 
the  Pope's  candidate  against  the  Guelph  Emperor ;  and 
thus  the  web  and  woof  of  Italian  politics  was  twisted. 

Frederick  II.,  upheld  by  the  forces  of  the  Pope,  slew 
Otto  in  the  Battle  of  Bovines ;  and,  though  Innocent 
III.  died  soon  after,  Frederick  II.  was  crowned  as 
Emperor  in  1220  by  Honorius  III.  on  condition  that  he 
should  visit  Palestine,  divide  the  power  by  giving  up 
Apulia  and  Sicily  to  his  son  Henry,  and  acknowledge 
his  dependence  on  the  Pope. 

As  an  ambitious  and  diplomatic  Papal  ruler  Inno- 
cent III.  ranks  with  Gregory  VII.  and  Boniface  VIII. 
It  was  he  who  first  conceived  the  idea  of  the  Papal 
States  by  seizing  upon  a  territory  in  the  center  of  Italy 
and  making  the  control  of  it  one  of  the  special  offices 
of  the  Pope.  He  executed  his  plans  with  the  ability 
of  a  great  statesman,  gaining  such  power  over  the  con- 
temporary sovereigns  of  Europe  that  they  all  feared 
him.  For  the  purpose  of  stifling  the  spirit  of  inquiry 
among  the  people,  he  encouraged  the  Franciscan  and 
Dominican  friars,  whose  orders  were  just  established; 
and,  by  raising  the  vexed  question  of  the  expediency 
of  giving  the  communion  cup  to  laymen,  he  created 
many  schisms  in  the  Church  which  lasted  up  to  Lu- 
ther's time. 

Frederick  II.  was  now  the  Emperor  of  the  world  and 
held  the  crown  of  Italy,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Apulia,  Ger- 
many, Burgundy  and  Jerusalem.  The  versatility  of 


32  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

his  character  and  comprehensiveness  of  his  views  made 
his  reign  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  age.  He 
insisted  on  the  obedience  of  law  as  the  highest  standard 
of  justice;  and  accordingly  the  Kingdom  of  Sicily 
under  his  rule  enjoyed  exceptional  prosperity.  He 
surrounded  himself  with  men  of  learning,  adorned  the 
city  of  Naples,  established  a  University,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  new  Italian  language,  which  has 
come  down  to  us,  he  himself  writing  Italian  poetry. 
He  has  been  called  the  most  cultivated  monarch  of 
those  early  times.  Frederick's  early  training  had  made 
him  skeptical  and  indifferent  to  the  all-absorbing  topic 
of  the  day,  and,  surrounded  by  everything  calculated 
to  fascinate  the  senses,  he  soon  forgot  his  vow,  made  to 
Honorius,  to  set  out  on  a  crusade  for  the  purpose  of 
capturing  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  hands  of  the 
Infidels.  But,  smarting  under  the  maledictions  of  the 
Pope,  he  at  last  leisurely  prepared  for  the  campaign. 

Meanwhile  Honorius  III.  died  and  Gregory  IX.,  his 
successor,  tired  of  Frederick's  vacillating  course,  ex- 
communicated him.  Finally,  weary  of  the  unrest  at 
home,  Frederick  set  sail  for  Palestine  in  1228,  and 
landed  at  Jean  d'Acre,  where,  through  his  marriage 
with  lolanda,  daughter  of  John  of  Brienne,  the  exiled 
King  of  Jerusalem,  he  claimed  the  temporal  crown  of 
the  kingdom;  and  this  he  placed  upon  his  own  brow. 

The  Pope  was  so  angry  at  the  blasphemy  of  a  mon- 
arch's undertaking  a  crusade  in  the  face  of  excom- 
munication, that  he  hurled  another  bull  against  him 
and  sent  an  army  to  lay  waste  his  territory. 

On  his  return  from  the  crusade  Emperor  and  Pope 
were  reconciled ;  but  there  were  so  many  insurrections 
in  the  North  that  he  was  obliged  to  employ  the 
infamous  Ezzelino  da  Romano,  together  with  his 


Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  33 

Saracen  troops,  in  putting  them  down.  He  also 
defeated  the  Milanese  and  their  allies  at  Corte  Nuova 
in  1237,  sending  their  Carroccio  to  Rome  as  a  trophy. 
Gregory  IX.  now  became  so  uneasy  at  the  almost  com- 
plete ruin  of  the  Guelph  party  that  he  called  Venice  and 
Genoa  to  his  aid,  and,  having  for  a  third  time  excom- 
municated Frederick  II.,  he  incited  his  son  Henry  to 
rebel  against  his  father.  This  so  angered  Frederick 
that  wherever  he  could  find  the  partisans  of  the  Church 
he  put  them  to  death. 

The  greatest  drawback  in  the  way  of  Frederick  II.'s 
success  was  his  contradictory  character.  "  He  sur- 
rounded himself  at  the  same  time  with  skeptics 
and  churchmen,  Mohammedans  and  Christians,  and 
endowed  convents  and  monasteries,  while  he  was  per- 
secuting the  defenders  of  the  Church ;  and  as  soon  as 
he  was  excommunicated,  he  started  out  on  his 
crusade." 

Gregory  IX.,  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  this  tur- 
bulent monarch,  called  together  the  famous  Council  at 
Meloria ;  but  the  Emperor  was  equal  to  the  emergency, 
and  with  his  squadron  intercepted  the  French  Bishops, 
appropriated  their  treasure,  and  sent  the  captive  prel- 
ates bound  in  silver  chains  to  Pisa.  This  was  too 
much  for  the  disappointed  Pope,  and  he  soon  died  from 
grief  and  chagrin,  leaving  the  Papacy  to  Innocent  IV., 
a  former  friend  of  Frederick  II.  Summoning  a  great 
council  of  one  hundred  and  forty  bishops  from  all  over 
Europe,  Pope  Innocent  hurled  the  greatest  Bull  of 
Excommunication  upon  Frederick  which  had  been  cast 
upon  anyone  since  the  time  of  Gregory  VII.  In  it  he 
declared  that  the  Emperor  had  sacrificed  his  rights  as 
a  sovereign  and  that  his  subjects  no  longer  owed  him 
allegiance.  Thus,  though  wearing  five  crowns,  Fred- 


34  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

erick  II.  henceforth  led  a  doomed  existence;  for  now 
he  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  conspiracies,  besides 
being  maligned  on  account  of  the  dark  doings  of  his 
execrable  vicar,  Ezzelino  da  Romano;  but  fortunately, 
the  latter,  after  having  laid  waste  numberless  prov- 
inces and  committed  murders  by  the  thousand,  was 
overcome  by  a  united  force  of  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines 
and  slain. 

At  last  as  a  final  blow  his  favorite  son  Enzio  was 
imprisoned  at  Bologna,  where  he  never  again  saw  the 
light  of  day,  dying  twenty  years  later.  There  was  a 
slight  alleviation  to  the  melancholy  of  this  persecuted 
monarch  at  the  time  when  the  news  that  Florence  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Ghibellines  reached  his  ears. 
He  struggled  on  five  years  longer,  dying  in  his  Apulian 
castle  of  Fiorentino  in  1250,  a  broken-hearted  old  man, 
although  in  fact  but  fifty-six  years  old.  The  power 
of  the  Ghibellines  declined  at  his  death,  after  having 
lasted  a  hundred  years,  and  his  reign  closed  the  epoch 
of  German  Imperial  rule  in  Italy. 

Innocent  IV.  rejoiced  at  the  death  of  this  accom- 
plished monarch,  his  friend  of  earlier  years ;  and  on  his 
return  to  Rome  he  made  the  Ghibelline  faction  quake, 
by  taking  the  ground  that  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  now 
rightfully  belonged  to  the  Papacy.  In  accordance  with 
this  view  he  made  a  war  on  Frederick's  heirs  which 
lasted  eighteen  years.  Conrad  IV.,  Frederick's  suc- 
cessor, died  in  1254,  during  the  contest,  leaving  an 
infant  son. 

Innocent  IV.'s  influence,  although  it  increased 
greatly,  found  in  Brancaleone  of  Andalo,  Count  of 
Casalecchio,  a  Ghibelline  opponent  of  much  energy. 
This  remarkable  statesman,  who  won  the  respect  of 
all  posterity,  before  accepting  the  office  of  Senator  in 


Guelphs  and  Gkibellines  35 

1252,  made  definite  terms  to  hold  the  government  of 
Rome  for  three  years,  demanding  that  hostages  for 
his  safety  should  be  sent  to  Bologna  from  the  noblest 
Roman  houses.  Pope  Innocent  IV.,  being  then  absent 
at  Perugia,  could  do  nothing,  and  Brancaleone  grasped 
the  power  firmly.  He  was  the  head  of  the  republic  in 
peace  and  war,  appointed  the  Podestas  in  the  adjoining 
territory  subject  to  Rome,  despatched  ambassadors, 
concluded  treaties  and  issued  coins.  The  Parliament 
met  in  the  square  of  the  Capitol,  and  the  Council  in  the 
Church  of  Aracceli.  Unfortunately,  like  most  of  the 
old  Roman  records,  those  pertaining  to  the  proceedings 
of  this  body  are  lost ;  and  it  is  only  known  that  Branca- 
leone did  not  observe  great  ceremony,  convoking  the 
Councils  as  seldom  as  possible,  but  assembling  the 
Parliament  of  the  people  frequently.  He  made  the 
clergy  respect  the  rights  of  the  citizens,  and  put  down 
the  turbulent  nobles  with  a  high  hand.  He  attacked 
their  fortresses  and  leveled  one  hundred  and  forty 
strongholds,  suspending  some  of  the  occupants  on  their 
own  battlements.  Brancaleone  told  Innocent  IV.,  who 
had  later  fled  in  terror  to  Assisi,  that  he  would  burn  him 
out  if  he  did  not  return  to  Rome. 

In  order  to  assist  the  people  guilds  were  organized, 
the  chief  of  these  being  admitted  into  the  Councils  of 
the  republic  as  early  as  1267.  Brancaleone  was  the 
first  Senator  who  took  the  title  of  "Romani  Populi 
Capitanus." 

After  Innocenf  I V.'s  death,  and  the  election  of  Alex- 
ander IV.,  the  clergy  rebelled  against  his  iron  rule  and 
the  nobles  grew  more  uneasy  under  their  fancied 
wrongs,  so  that  at  the  end  of  his  three  years'  term  of 
office  Brancaleone  was  thrown  into  prison ;  and,  except 
for  the  hostages  which  he  had  required  at  first,  his  life 


•36  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

would  have  been  sacrificed.  As  it  was,  in  1257  *ne 
Guilds  arose,  and  recalled  him  for  another  three  years. 

Brancaleone  made  an  alliance  with  the  son  of  Fred- 
erick II.,  Manfred,  who  was  then  in  command  of  the  Im- 
perial forces  in  Sicily  and  acting  as  king  for  his  brother 
Conrad  IV.  Soon  after  the  death  of  Conrad,  Manfred 
joined  the  Ghibelline  party  under  Farinata  degli  Uberti. 

Florence  had  gained  great  power  in  Tuscany  under 
the  government  of  the  Guelphs,  who,  after  having  been 
driven  out  by  young  Frederick,  the  natural  son  of 
Frederick  II.,  had  now  come  back.  The  Guelphs  of 
Genoa  and  Modena,  and  even  of  Lombardy,  united  with 
that  party  in  Tuscany,  and  in  1260  they  all  met  on  the 
battle-field  of  Monte  Aperto.  The  contest  was  unde- 
cided for  a  long  time,  until  the  Guelph  cavalry  was 
betrayed  by  Bocca  degli  Abati,  who  went  over  to  the 
Ghibellines,  and  the  day  was  lost.  A  large  number  of 
the  citizens  were  slain,  and  Florence  herself,  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Ghibellines,  the  Caroccio  was 
taken  and  a  council  was  called  to  destroy  the  city. 
Although  Farinata  had  in  the  beginning  enlisted  Man- 
fred to  help  against  Florence,  he  held  the  city  in  her 
danger  dearer  than  his  party.  He  said  that  he  would 
not  suffer  his  country  to  be  destroyed  while  he  could 
wield  a  sword,  and  begged  so  hard  for  her  that 
Florence  was  finally  saved.  Dante,  in  his  "  Inferno," 
is  supposed  to  have  met  Farinata  in  the  Infernal 
Regions,  where,  among  other  things, 

"He  said  and  shook  his  mournful  head, 
'In  these  things  was  not  I  alone,  nor  could 

Without  grave  reason  be  by  others  led, 

But  I  stood  sole,  when  all  consenting  would 

Have  swept  off  Florence  from  the  earth; 
Alone  and  openly  in  her  defence  I  stood.'" 


Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  37 

For  a  time  the  power  of  the  Guelphs  in  Tuscany  and 
throughout  all  Italy  was  at  an  end,  and  Manfred  held 
great  power  at  the  head  of  the  Ghibellines.  Branca- 
leone  now  ruled  more  sternly  than  ever  in  Rome,  and 
became  odious  to  Pope  Alexander,  who  excommuni- 
cated him;  that  same  year,  in  1258,  while  engaged 
on  the  Siege  of  Corneto,  Brancaleone  was  attacked  by 
a  violent  fever,  and,  being  carried  to  Rome,  died  on 
the  Capitoline  Hill. 

Alexander  IV.  died  in  1261  and  was  succeeded  by  a 
French  Pope  under  the  title  of  Urban  IV.  The  choice 
for  Emperor  now  lay  between  Alphonso  X.  of  Castile 
and  Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  brother  of  Henry  III. 
of  England.  Pope  Urban  IV.  ignored  both  candidates 
and  offered  the  crown  to  Louis  IX.  of  France.  The 
latter  had  too  much  dignity  to  meddle  with  things  out- 
side his  own  province,  but,  in  1265,  he  assisted  his 
unscrupulous  brother,  Charles  of  Anjou,  with  men  and 
money  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  Naples. 

The  Count  of  Anjou  was  cruel  and  ambitious,  as 
well  as  unprincipled,  and  very  wealthy  through  his 
wife,  Beatrice,  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Provence,  in 
whose  right  he  held  that  country.  Hers  was  a  family 
of  queens,  and  it  was  thought  that  her  ambition  spurred 
her  husband  on.  Urban  IV.  and  the  Guelph  party 
had  agreed  to  the  election  of  Charles  as  Senator  of 
Rome,  on  condition  that  as  king  he  should  hold  Sicily 
and  Naples  only  as  a  fief  from  the  Pope ;  and  Urban, 
remembering  how  Henry  VI.  and  Frederick  II.  had 
circumscribed  the  Church  on  the  north  and  south, 
told  Charles  that  when  he  obtained  Naples  he  must 
relinquish  the  Senatorship  of  Rome,  and  must  in  the 
meantime  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope 
over  the  Senate.  Although  appearing  to  agree  to 


38  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

everything,  Charles  of  Anjou  intended  to  keep  the 
Senatorship  for  life;  and  in  addition  to  this,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  the  Vicarship  of  Tuscany. 

Before  matters  were  settled  Urban  IV.  died ;  and  his 
successor,  Clement  IV.,  crowned  Charles  of  Anjou 
King  of  the  Two  Sicilies  in  the  Church  of  St.  John  in 
Lateran.  At  the  Battle  of  Grandella,  on  the  26th  of 
February,  1266,  Manfred  was  deserted  by  many  of  the 
Italian  Ghibellines,  and  finally  when  his  army  fled,  he 
was  slain,  the  success  of  Charles  of  Anjou's  followers, 
the  Guelph  Angevines,  being  assured.  The  Guelphs 
who  had  been  driven  out  at  the  Battle  of  Monte 
Aperto  now  returned,  and  Charles  was  elected  Signer 
of  Florence  for  two  years.  Pisa,  envious  of  Florence, 
threw  her  influence  on  the  side  of  the  Ghibellines  to 
bring  forward  young  Conradin,  the  only  heir  to  the 
House  of  Sicily  and  the  last  of  the  Hohenstaufen. 

Notwithstanding  the  counsels  of  his  mother,  Con- 
radin sold  the  most  of  his  possessions  in  Germany,  and 
though  a  mere  lad,  collected  all  the  troops  he  could 
gather  in  that  country.  Reinforced  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  exiled  Ghibellines  and  disaffected  Sicilians,  he 
crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy  with  ten  thousand  soldiers. 
At  first  the  fair-haired  boy  defeated  the  army  of 
Charles  of  Anjou ;  but  at  Tagliacozzo,  in  1268,  the  vic- 
tory was  lost  because,  confident  of  success,  Conradin's 
troops  stopped  to  plunder  the  enemy. 

Charles  of  Anjou  had  been  for  a  time  obliged  to  give 
up  the  Senatorship  at  Rome,  a  democratic  govern- 
ment being  formed,  consisting  of  twenty-six  "  boni 
homines,"  with  Angelo  Capocci,  a  Ghibelline,  as  cap- 
tain, while  Don  Henry,  son  of  Henry  III.  of  Castile, 
was  elected  Senator.  The  latter  kept  the  clergy  down 
and  subdued  the  rough  element  of  the  Campagna,  and, 


Guelphs  and  Ghibcllines  39 

throwing  the  Guelph  nobles  into  disorder,  he  made  an 
alliance  with  the  Tuscan  Ghibellines.  Don  Henry 
drove  back  the  troops  of  Charles,  and  when  Conradin 
came  he  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome.  But  after 
the  Battle  of  Tagliacozzo  Charles  was  again  elected 
Senator  for  ten  years,  and,  Conradin  having  been 
betrayed  into  his  hands,  he  had  him  put  to  death  in  a 
most  barbarous  manner.  Anjou  has  been  called  "  The 
Exterminator  of  the  Hohenstaufen." 

Charles  of  Anjou  would  now  have  been  master  of 
the  whole  of  Italy,  and  might  have  been  crowned  as 
Emperor,  had  not  Gregory  X.  enlisted  Rudolph  of 
Hapsburg,  the  founder  of  the  Hapsburg  House  in  Ger- 
many, to  assist  him.  The  agreement  was  that  Rudolph, 
as  Emperor,  should  abstain  from  any  interference  in 
Italy,  and  that  he  should  confirm  the  territorial  pre- 
tensions of  the  Pope  by  a  charter.  In  accordance 
with  this  arrangement,  in  1276  Emilia,  Romagna,  the 
March  of  Ancona,  the  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter  and  the 
Campagna  of  Rome  belonged  to  the  Holy  See,  and 
not  to  the  Empire.  These  were  the  States  of  the 
Church  which  swore  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  and 
stamped  his  image  on  their  coins;  and  ever  after  this 
the  Popes  were  landed  proprietors. 

Nicholas  III.,  who  succeeded  Gregory  X.,  took  away 
from  Charles  of  Anjou  the  Vicarship  of  Tuscany  and 
the  Senatorship  of  Rome,  and,  raising  the  Ghibelline 
power,  persuaded  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  to  surrender 
all  titles  to  the  lands  of  Countess  Mathilda. 

Italy  was  now  divided  into  three  portions,  the  King- 
dom of  Naples  in  the  south  under  Charles  of  Anjou ; 
the  Papal  States,  which  contained  seventeen  thousand 
square  miles  and  a  population  of  several  millions  in 
the  center  of  Italy;  while  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  con- 


4O  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

sidered  the  northen  portion  peculiarly  his  own,  since 
he  never  meddled  with  the  rest. 

At  the  time  of  the  ascendancy  of  the  Guelphs  in  1276, 
the  constitution  of  Florence  assumed  the  form  which 
it  was  destined  to  hold  for  many  years.  The  citizens 
were  divided  into  Guilds  or  Arts,  as  the  trade  organi- 
zations of  Florence  were  called  at  that  time.  Each 
Art  had  its  own  council  of  six  priors  and  its  leader  or 
Gonfaloniere,  who  all  held  office  two  months  and  ate 
at  the  same  table  and  lived  in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico. 
There  were  twelve  of  these  Arts  in  which  the  power 
was  placed,  and  which  were  made  the  foundation  of 
the  constitution.  The  criminal  court  was  under  the 
supervision  of  both  the  Podesta  and  the  Captain  of 
the  People. 

Florence  had  now  no  rival  among  Italian  cities,  and 
her  location  was  unsurpassed  in  loveliness.  She  had 
become  vastly  populous  and  had  gained  great  wealth 
and  renown  through  her  commerce,  the  Florentine 
fabrics  being  in  the  greatest  demand  in  the  European 
markets  for  three  hundred  years. 


Contentions  of  the  Republics  41 


CHAPTER   IV 

VENICE,  PISA,  GENOA. — COLONNA  AND  ORSINI. — SICILIAN 

VESPERS. THE    NERI    AND    BIANCHI. — DANTE. 

1280—1310  A.D. 

VENICE,  in  the  beginning  a  collection  of  scattered 
islands,  had  gradually  assumed  considerable  im- 
portance; but  she  never  came  into  political  notice 
outside  her  own  limits  until  1237,  when  the  cruel 
execution  of  Frederick  Tiepolo,  the  Podesta  of  Milan 
and  son  of  their  Doge,  aroused  the  Venetians  and  in- 
cited them  to  join  the  Lombard  League. 

From  this  time  the  Venetian  republic  made  rapid 
strides  in  wealth  and  power,  and  attained  great  re- 
nown. Her  government  has  been  handed  down  as 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  bodies  in  history.  It  was 
much  like  the  administration  in  Florence,  only  that 
the  Doges,  nominated  in  the  general  assembly  of  the 
citizens,  kept  their  position  for  life,  assisted  by  six 
priors,  it  being  stipulated  that  no  Doge  should  associate 
his  son  in  the  government.  At  first  there  was  only 
the  Great  Council,  which  consisted  of  the  higher 
nobles  and  the  lesser  nobles;  but  the  people,  being 
denied  all  voice  in  municipal  proceedings,  became  dis- 
satisfied. Accordingly  a  legislature  was  organized, 
composed  of  four  hundred  and  eighty  delegates,  and 
a  constitution  was  formed. 

In  1301  the  famous  "  Council  of  Ten  "  was  insti- 
tuted, which  kept  the  people  enslaved  by  the  nobles. 
This  Council  united  with  the  Doge  and  his  priors, 
and  held  despotic  power  for  a  great  number  of  years. 


42  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Its  object  was  the  ferreting  out  and  punishing  of 
crime. 

At  the  height  of  her  glory  Venice  held  dominion 
over  three-eighths  of  the  old  Roman  Empire ;  and  for 
half  a  century  Genoa,  aided  by  Greece,  and  Venice,  by 
Pisa,  were  engaged  in  incessant  strife,  fighting  over 
the  spoils  brought  in  from  the  Eastern  world.  It  was 
the  crusades  which  built  up  the  commerce  of  Venice 
in  the  East,  and  brought  into  Europe  much  of  the 
luxury  of  Oriental  splendor;  since  her  ships,  after 
transporting  troops  to  Palestine,  came  back  laden 
with  products  from  the  Orient. 

About  1 200  A.D.,  at  the  time  of  the  fourth  crusade 
under  Innocent  III.,  in  which  Venice  took  so  great  a 
part,  the  Venetian  fleet  conquered  Constantinople  and 
kept  it  for  forty-seven  years ;  and  besides  this,  many 
islands  were  at  this  time  ceded  to  her.  The  same  old 
palaces  then  inhabited  by  the  wealthy  families  who 
engaged  in  the  commerce  of  that  era  are  still  seen  on 
the  Grand  Canal. 

Genoa  and  Pisa,  which  had  been  contending  for 
many  years  for  supremacy,  in  1284  engaged  in  a  final 
struggle.  When  a  large  part  of  the  Pisan  fleet  was 
destroyed  by  a  tempest,  Genoa  rejoiced ;  and  when  the 
Genoese  navy  captured  more  Pisan  galleys,  on  their 
way  to  Sardinia,  the  great  bells  in  the  lofty  tower 
of  Maria  in  Carignano  sounded  forth  their  chimes 
more  gaily  than  ever.  Finally  the  large  Genoese 
fleet  outnumbered  the  three  hundred  Pisan  galleys  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Arno,  and  triumphed  over  the  Pisans 
at  the  Battle  of  Meloria,  the  same  place  where  forty 
years  before  Frederick  II.  had  made  his  famous 
seizure  of  the  whole  Council  of  Bishops.  Eleven 
thousand  inhabitants  were  captured  in  this  battle  and 


Contentions  of  the  Republics  43 

many  more  were  drowned.  Ten  thousand  Pisan 
prisoners  perished  in  the  dungeons  of  Genoa  during 
the  next  half  score  of  years ;  and  it  came  to  be  a 
saying :  "  If  you  would  see  the  Pisans  you  must  go  to 
Genoa." 

All  the  Guelph  cities  assisted  in  the  final  destruction 
of  Pisa,  and  from  this  time  her  decline  was  rapid.  At 
last  she  was  betrayed  by  Count  Gheradesca,  the  ad- 
miral of  the  Pisan  navy,  who  had  sought  to  confirm 
his  own  power  by  making  terms  secretly  with  the 
Florentines.  The  city  was  plunged  into  civil  war 
and  the  great  bells  sounded.  The  party  opposed  to 
Gheradesca  was  victorious,  and  on  the  ist  of  July, 
1288,  after  a  day's  fighting,  the  Count  and  his  two 
sons  were  cast  into  a  tower  known  as  the  "  Tower 
of  the  Seven  Streets,"  or  "  The  Tower  of  Famine." 
Here  they  were  left  to  die  of  hunger.  Their  suffering 
is  one  of  the  topics  in  Dante's  "  Divina  Commedia." 
The  Pisans  for  many  years  still  exhibited  the  effects 
of  continuous  crushing  defeat. 

The  Sicilians,  being  tired  of  Charles  of  Anjou  and 
his  provincial  troops,  John  of  Procida  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  conspiracy  to  arouse  the  people  and 
exterminate  French  power  from  the  island.  He  was 
assisted  by  both  Emperor  Michael  of  Constantinople 
and  Peter,  King  of  Aragon,  who  by  marriage  was 
entitled  to  the  throne  of  Naples. 

In  the  year  1282,  as  the  citizens  of  Palermo  were 
celebrating  Easter  Monday,  a  beautiful  girl  of  high 
rank  was  insulted  by  a  French  soldier.  The  con- 
spirators, only  awaiting  an  occasion  for  an  uprising, 
pierced  the  miscreant  to  the  heart  with  their  daggers. 
The  tolling  vesper  bells  seemed  to  be  counting  out 
the  hour  of  retribution  for  the  long-practiced  cruel- 


44  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

ties  of  the  French  rulers;  and,  as  the  cry  of  agony 
arose,  the  crowd  of  thousands  formed  itself  into  a 
mob  which  took  possession  of  the  city.  A  general 
slaughter  of  the  French  followed ;  and  in  the  morning 
not  one  out  of  the  thousands  of  resident  French  had 
escaped.  The  work  did  not  cease  here;  but  all  the 
French  in  Sicily  were  utterly  exterminated  "  in  this 
great  flame  of  insurrection,"  the  horrible  massacre 
being  handed  down  as  the  "  Sicilian  Vespers." 

Charles  of  Anjou  was  compelled  to  retire  from 
Messina  by  Peter  of  Aragon,  who  was  anchored  in 
the  harbor.  Anjou's  whole  fleet,  which  was  ready 
for  the  Greek  War,  was  destroyed ;  so  that,  although 
assisted  by  Philip  the  Bold  and  Pope  Martin  IV.,  he 
was  never  able  to  recover  his  lost  dominion  before  his 
death  in  1286.  During  the  next  twenty  years  the 
Spanish  Ghibellines  in  Sicily  and  Apulia  were  ruled 
by  Peter  of  Aragon  and  his  sons,  while  the  French 
Angevin  House  reigned  in  Naples,  supported  by  the 
Guelphs. 

Since  the  expiration  of  Charles  of  Anjou's  Sena- 
torship  of  ten  years  in  Rome,  the  Colonna,  Savelli, 
Orsini,  Anabaldi  and  other  Roman  nobles  had  held 
the  power,  much  to  the  detriment  of  the  republic; 
and  when  the  fame  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  reached 
the  city  the  Orsini  rose  in  arms,  massacred  the  French 
garrison  and  re-established  a  popular  government. 

In  1294  the  Cardinal  Colonna  refused  to  acknowl- 
edge Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  because  the  latter,  in  order 
to  raise  his  own  faction  to  power,  opposed  the  Colonna 
family,  then  in  power,  and  excommunicated  them.  For 
a  time  Pope  Boniface  succeeded  in.  keeping  down  their 
influence,  until  at  last,  at  the  instigation  of  William 
Nogari  and  Sciarra  Colonna,  the  Pontiff  was  impris- 


Contentions  of  the  Republics  45 

oned  at  Anagni  and  treated  with  such  violence  that, 
in  1303,  he  died  of  grief  at  the  humiliation. 

On  account  of  the  violence  of  the  extreme  faction, 
the  Guelphs  in  Florence  had  separated  in  1300,  the 
Bianchi  or  Whites,  the  moderate  portion,  developing 
into  Ghibellines.  The  quarrels  of  these  parties  had 
risen  so  high,  that  Boniface  VIII.  felt  obliged  to 
summon  Charles  of  Valois,  brother  of  Philip  the  Fair 
of  France.  In  1301  Charles  of  Valois  was  joined  by 
Corso  Donati,  and  with  the  French  cavalry  laid  waste 
everything  within  reach ;  and  afterwards  the  former 
advanced  to  Sicily  to  support  the  Guelphs  against 
Frederick  of  Aragon. 

In  the  course  of  these  dissensions  Dante,  who  was 
of  the  moderate  Guelph  party,  the  Bianchi,  was  driven 
into  exile  and,  through  the  tragedy  of  his  sufferings, 
produced  his  immortal  poem,  the  "  Divina  Commedia." 
This  religious  epic  treats  of  Paradise,  Purgatory  and 
an  Inferno,  and  describes  Dante  as  visiting  these  places 
and  talking  with  such  of  his  countrymen  as  were  noted 
for  good  and  evil  deeds.  It  is  pronounced  one  of 
the  greatest  productions  of  human  genius;  and  in  it 
the  principal  characters  in  the  awful  scenes  enacted 
at  this  era  in  Italy  are  painted  in  ineffaceable  colors. 

Dante's  mind  was  greatly  influenced  by  a  certain 
religious  revival  in  the  Church;  since  at  this  time 
Boniface  VIII.  had  set  apart  the  year  1300  as  the  first 
secular  Jubilee,  at  the  same  time  granting  to  all  Chris- 
tians, who  should  make  pilgrimages  to  the  holy  places 
of  Rome,  divine  peace  and  mercy.  In  this  way  the 
custom  originated  of  making  the  last  year  of  each 
century  the  occasion  of  special  religious  solemnities. 
The  overwhelming  excitement  at  this  time  brought  out 
so  great  a  number  of  the  faithful  that  the  old  bridge 


46  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  St.  Angelo  had  to  be  divided  by  a  barrier  to  separate 
the  crowds  going  in  different  directions  to  St.  Peter's 
and  St.  Paul's,  many  thousands  besides  the  "  Divine 
Poet "  being  stirred  to  noble  thoughts  and  actions. 

Dante's  is  the  first  great  name  in  literature  after  the 
"  night  of  the  Dark  Ages."  He  was  born  under  the 
sign  of  the  Gemini,  which  astrologers  considered  fav- 
orable to  literature  and  science.  In  the  "  Inferno " 
we  learn  that  his  instructor,  Brunetto  Latini,  told  him 
that  if  the  guidance  of  this  constellation  were  followed 
it  would  lead  him  to  everlasting  fame.  While  yet  a 
boy  Dante  had  prepared  himself  for  his  great  work 
by  the  study  of  Virgil,  Horace,  Ovid  and  also  by 
theological  research. 

The  great  poet  had  first  met  Beatrice  Portinari  at 
the  house  of  her  father,  in  1274,  when  they  were  both 
nine  years  of  age.  Although  he  never  spoke  with  her 
personally  but  once  or  twice,  and  she  knew  little  of 
his  devotion  to  her,  until  the  end  of  his  life  her  beauty 
was  his  glory,  her  memory  his  solace,  and  her  image 
his  guiding  star;  and  after  her  death  he  writes  in  his 
"  Vita  Nuova" :  "  It  was  given  to  me  to  see  a  beautiful 
and  wonderful  vision,  which  determined  me  to  say 
nothing  until  I  could  write  more  worthily  concerning 
her  what  hath  not  been  written  of  any  woman." 

Florence  had  enjoyed  uninterrupted  peace  after  the 
Battle  of  Monte  Aperto,  in  1228,  until  January  n, 
1289,  when,  at  the  Battle  of  Campaldino,  the  Ghibel- 
lines  were  defeated.  Dante  proved  his  manhood  in 
fighting  both  there  and  at  Caprona.  Then  he  returned 
to  his  studies  and  to  the  meditations  of  his  love;  but 
in  1290  Beatrice  died.  Dante  was  a  skilled  draughts- 
man, and  on  the  anniversary  of  that  day  he  drew  an 
angel  on  her  tombstone. 


DANTE  AND  BEATRICE. 


Contentions  of  the  Republics  47 

Beatrice  had  become  the  wife  of  Simeone  di  Bardi, 
and,  in  1292,  after  her  death  Dante,  won  by  sympathy 
and  kindness,  married  the  daughter  of  Corso  Donati. 
In  spite  of  rumors  to  the  contrary  there  is  little  doubt 
that  Gemma,  the  mother  of  his  seven  children,  was  an 
affectionate  wife;  but  for  some  reason  or  other  she 
was  never  with  him  in  his  exile,  and  he  left  her  out 
altogether  in  his  "  Divina  Commedia."  Her  father, 
Corso  Donati,  became  Dante's  bitter  political  enemy 
in  the  strife  then  pending. 

Dante  was  inscribed  in  the  "  Art  of  the  Medici  and 
Speziali,"  which  made  him  eligible  as  one  of  six 
priors  to  whom  the  government  was  entrusted  in  1282. 
Documents  still  exist  in  Florence  showing  that  he  took 
part  in  the  Council  of  the  city  in  1295 ;  and  from  June 
till  August  of  1300  he  held  the  office  of  prior. 

On  January  27,  1302,  Dante,  with  three  others 
charged  with  embezzlement,  was  compelled  to  pay  a 
fine  of  five  thousand  liras;  and  on  March  10,  for 
political  reasons,  he  and  fourteen  other  condemned 
persons  were  exiled  from  Tuscany  for  two  years,  and 
sentenced  to  be  burned  alive  if  found  within  the  limits 
of  the  republic.  All  the  exiles  met  at  a  castle  called 
Garganza,  between  Siena  and  Arezzo,  and  Dante  went 
from  there  to  Verona  and  placed  himself  in  the  care 
of  Bartholomeo  Scala,  whose  son  Can  Grande  was  then 
a  boy.  An  ill-advised  attempt  on  the  part  of  his  com- 
panions to  storm  Florence  disclosed  to  Dante  their 
incapacity  and  baseness.  Then,  in  his  contempt  for 
them,  he  became  independent  of  the  Bianchi  in  whose 
ranks  he  had  been  born  and  bred.  Standing  thus 
alone,  he  for  the  first  time  realized  the  bitterness  of 
banishment. 

Though  at  first  people  thought  of  Dante  only  as  an 


48  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

exiled  politician,  he  had,  before  he  ever  entered  politics, 
written  his  "  Vita  Nuova,"  the  song  of  his  love  for 
Beatrice,  and  other  poems,  so  that  often  when  he  was 
going  along  the  streets  of  Florence,  as  Boccaccio  tells 
it,  he  heard  the  blacksmith  at  his  anvil  and  the  men 
driving  their  mules  singing  his  verses.  When  they 
did  not  quote  his  lines  correctly,  he  would  stop  them  on 
the  street,  chide  them  and  tell  them  they  were  spoiling 
his  work. 

After  the  first  years  of  Dante's  exile,  spent  in  trying 
to  return  to  Florence,  it  dawned  on  him  that  "  the  sun 
still  rose  and  set  outside  his  beloved  city  " ;  and  he 
wandered  from  castle  to  castle  and  from  monastery  to 
monastery,  until  little  by  little  he  began  to  think  of 
other  things.  His  hopes  failed  at  the  untimely  death 
of  Henry  VII.,  whom  he  had  looked  forward  to  as  the 
deliverer  of  Italy ;  and  when  Corso  Donati,  his  father- 
in-law,  with  whom  he  had  become  reconciled,  was 
attacked  and  killed  in  1308,  after  joining  the  Ghibel- 
lines,  his  courage  entirely  gave  way. 

Many  cities  and  castles  in  Italy  have  claimed  the 
honor  of  giving  Dante  refuge  and  being  for  a  time  the 
home  of  his  Muse.  Dante  himself  says :  "  Through 
almost  every  land  where  the  Italian  language  is  spoken 
a  wanderer  I  have  gone,  showing  against  my  will  the 
wounds  of  fortune."  The  Ghibelline  leader  Uguc- 
cione  at  one  time  offered  him  shelter  way  up  in  the 
mountains  of  Urbino ;  and,  after  visiting  the  Univer- 
sity of  Bologna,  Dante  retired  to  the  Castle  of  Moro- 
ello  Malaspina,  where  the "  marble  mountains  of  the 
Apennines  descend  precipitously"  to  the  Gulf  of 
Spezia. 

Dante,  when  he  received  the  news  of  his  exile,  was 
absent  on  a  diplomatic  expedition  to  Rome,  and  in  the 


Contentions  of  the  Republics  49 

succeeding  troublous  times  the  old  home  opposite  the 
Church  of  San  Martino,  which  to-day  bears  the  inscrip- 
tion, "  The  House  where  Dante  was  born,"  was 
broken  up.  Gemma,  provident  housekeeper  that  she 
was,  hastily  collected  all  the  manuscripts  and  fugitive 
poems,  put  them  together  in  a  separate  box,  without 
any  particular  reference  to  their  value,  and  sent  them 
with  other  possessions  to  neutral  friends.  Years 
after,  when  comparative  security  prevailed,  Gemma, 
with  the  help  of  Dante's  nephew,  Andrea,  a  young 
man  who  much  resembled  his  uncle,  collected  her  scat- 
tered treasures.  The  latter  happened  to  open  the  chest 
in  which  Dante's  writings  had  been  packed,  and  dis- 
covered seven  cantos  of  the  "  Divina  Commedia," 
written  in  Italian. 

Dante  had  not  forgotten  these,  but,  too  sorrowful  to 
think  of  intellectual  pursuits,  he  had  given  up  com- 
pleting the  work.  His  nephew,  Andrea,  who  deserves 
the  recognition  of  all  posterity  for  this  service,  took  the 
seven  cantos  to  literary  critics.  These  all  agreed  as 
to  their  merits,  and  a  copy  was  sent  to  Dante  in  his 
mountain  monastery  above  Spezia.  Then  the  poet  set 
himself  to  finish  the  work.  He  occupied  two  years  in 
writing  the  "  Inferno,"  which  he  dedicated  to  his  host 
Malaspina.  He  devoted  two  years  also  to  each  of  the 
others,  the  "Purgatorio"  and  the  "Paradiso."  The 
former  he  wrote  at  Pisa  and  dedicated  to  Uguccione, 
the  "  Paradiso  "  at  Verona,  dedicated  to  Can  Grande 
della  Scala,  whose  hospitality  he  enjoyed  for  a  number 
of  years.  To  him  he  sent  before  publishing  them  all 
of  the  cantos  except  the  last  thirteen,  which  were 
written  after  differences  arose  between  them.  These 
cantos  were  sought  for  unavailingly  after  his  death, 
until  one  of  his  two  sons,  who  had  lived  with  him  in 


50  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

his  last  retreat  at  Ravenna,  by  means  of  a  dream  dis- 
covered their  hiding-place  behind  a  secret  panel, 
covered  with  dust,  cobwebs  and  mold.  Dante  would 
not  send  these  to  his  offended  patron,  and  could  not 
bear  to  publish  them  without  first  submitting  them  to 
the  arbiter  of  all  the  rest. 

After  Dante  separated  from  Can  Grande,  he  visited 
Paris  and  went  to  Holland,  crossing  over  to  England. 
Still  he  longed  for  Florence,  and  "  lingered  upon  the 
Umbrian  Hills,  where  the  horizon  closed  over  his 
home."  Once  he  had  an  opportunity  to  return ;  for 
at  the  Festival  of  St.  John  certain  criminals  and  pol- 
itical offenders  were  granted  pardon,  on  condition  of 
paying  a  fine  and  offering  themselves  to  the  care  of  that 
Saint.  Dante's  friends  made  a  strenuous  effort  to 
induce  him  to  accept  this  way  of  ending  his  exile ;  but 
he  scorned  the  humiliating  favor,  saying:  "  If  by  this 
means  only  I  can  return  to  Florence,  she  shall  never 
again  be  entered  by  me." 

Boccaccio  tells  us  that  after  Dante  had  written  his 
"  Inferno  "  he  appeared  one  day  to  Fra  Ilario,  prior  of 
the  Monastery  of  Santa  Croce  del  Corvo,  asking  for 
peace.  Fra  Ilario  recognized  the  stranger  as  no  other 
than  Dante,  who  on  leaving  drew  from  his  bosom  a 
little  book  and  gave  it  to  the  prior  as  a  memorial.  It 
was  the  "  Inferno."  Fra  Ilario  was  much  surprised  to 
see  so  arduous  a  task  accomplished  in  Italian,  and  asked 
Dante  why  he  had  written  it  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 
The  reply  was  that,  having  seen  the  songs  of  the  most 
illustrious  poets  neglected,  he  had  thought  it  best  to 
adapt  this  great  work  to  the  "  understanding  of  the 
moderns."  In  this  way  he  confirmed  the  classic  Italian 
which  Frederick  II.  had  first  established  in  Sicily  and 
made  the  court  language. 


Contentions  of  the  Republics  51 

Boccaccio  describes  Dante  somewhat  as  follows: 
"  Dante  was  of  middle  height  and  stooped  when  he 
walked,  and  his  aspect  was  grave  and  quiet.  His  face 
was  long,  he  had  an  aquiline  nose  and  his  eyes  were 
large.  His  complexion  was  dark,  his  hair  and  beard 
thick,  black  and  curly,  and  his  countenance  was  always 
melancholy.  So  it  happened  one  day  in  Verona  after 
his  works  were  already  known  and  his  face  familiar 
to  many,  that  he  passed  before  a  house  where  several 
women  were  seated ;  and  one  said  softly :  '  Did  you 
notice  him  who  goes  to  hell  and  returns  again  when 
he  likes,  and  brings  back  news  of  the  people  down 
below.'  Another  woman  replied :  '  You  speak  the 
truth,  for  see  how  scorched  his  beard  is  and  how  dark 
he  is  from  the  heat  and  smoke.'  When  Dante  heard 
this  and  saw  that  the  women  believed  it  he  was  pleased 
and  amused  and  went  on  his  way  with  a  smile." 

It  is  pleasant  to  think  that  the  last  days  of  this  great, 
but  sad  poet  were  passed  in  peace  at  the  home  of  his 
friend  Guido  di  Polenta,  among  the  high  houses  of  the 
same  shady  street  in  Ravenna  opposite  which  one 
to-day  sees  his  tomb.  "  Here  all  the  world  was  tender 
to  the  poet."  Here,  withdrawn  from  all  possibility 
of  a  sight  of  Florence,  he  gave  up  his  deferred  hope 
and  was  able  to  sink  back  into  the  melancholy  old  city 
with  its  mournful  mosaics,  almost  as  much  older  than 
Giotto  as  that  painter  is  older  than  the  artists  of  the 
present  day.  Here  he  was  comforted  by  his  two  sons, 
Pietro  and  Jacopo,  and  spent  much  time  in  correspond- 
ence with  his  far-off  friends. 

Guido  of  Polenta  treated  Dante  with  great  considera- 
tion, giving  him  the  place  of  honor  at  his  table  and 
sending  him  on  important  missions. 

Once  he  received  an  invitation  to  go  to  Bologna  to 


52  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

accept  the  Crown  of  Poetry.  He  replied :  "  If  ever  I 
am  crowned  at  all  it  shall  be  within  the  solemn  walls 
of  the  '  Bel  San  Giovanni,' "  the  church  which  Dante 
had  never  ceased  to  love.  He  wrote,  "  Sweet  would  it 
be  to  decorate  my  head  with  the  crown  of  laurel  in 
Bologna,  but  sweeter  still  in  my  own  country,  if  ever 
I  return  there,  hiding  my  white  hair  beneath  the 
leaves." 

On  returning  from  a  mission  to  Venice,  Dante 
caught  a  fever  among  the  marshes,  and  in  the  month 
of  September  in  the  year  1321,  when  he  was  fifty-six 
years  of  age,  he  died  at  Ravenna. 

Florence  at  first  made  no  sign  of  penitence ;  but  "  to 
her  shame  one  day  she  awoke  to  her  glory  "  in  his 
unrivaled  greatness.  She  waited  long  for  the  people 
of  Ravenna  to  give  him  up ;  and  she  built  him  a  beauti- 
ful monument  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Croce,  a  sar- 
cophagus bearing  the  words :  "  Dante  Alighieri,  il 
Divino  Poeta,"  etc. ;  but  it  is  still  empty.  In  the  square 
outside  his  statue  rises  in  almost  divine  benignity; 
and  as  one  looks  upon  the  penciled  features  it  is  not 
hard  to  understand  how  such  wonderful  creations 
could  spring  from  a  soul  so  harassed  and  persecuted. 


Age  of  the  Despots  53 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  AGE  OF  THE  DESPOTS. — THE  CONDOTTIERI  AND  THE 
FREE  COMPANIES. — PETRARCH,  BOCCACCIO,  GIOTTO, 
CIMABUE. — RIENZI. 

1310—1354  A,D. 

IT  was  in  the  time  of  Clement  V.,  in  the  year  1309, 
that  the  Holy  See  was  moved  to  Avignon.  This  was 
the  home  of  the  Popes  for  the  seventy-five  years 
known  as  the  "  Babylonian  Captivity."  The  Papal 
Palace  built  in  Clement  V.'s  time  was  for  many  years 
used  as  a  soldiers'  barracks,  and  resounded  to  the 
revelry  of  the  troops  of  France.  Recently,  however, 
the  relic  has  been  restored  and  transformed  into  a 
museum. 

Since  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  no  German  had 
claimed  the  crown  of  Italy;  but  in  1310  Henry  VII. 
crossed  the  Alps  for  the  purpose  of  putting  down  the 
Guelphs.  It  was  the  sound  of  his  coming  that  had  so 
thrilled  Dante's  heart.  At  first  all  the  nobles  and 
leaders  rushed  to  his  standard,  the  Ghibellines  receiv- 
ing him  as  though  belonging  to  them,  and  many  of  the 
Guelphs,  because  the  Pope  favored  him.  When,  how- 
ever, it  was  apparent  that  he  intended  to  put  down  the 
rebellious  independence  of  the  Italian  cities,  the  strong 
Guelph  influence  predominated  against  him  and  nothing 
was  accomplished  except  the  recall  of  a  few  exiles, 
Dante  being  emphatically  mentioned  among  the  excep- 
tions. Rome  also  was  opposed  to  Henry  VII.  and 
called  to  her  assistance  Robert  of  Naples,  the  grandson 


54  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  Charles  of  Anjou,  so  that  Henry  had  to  be  crowned 
in  St.  John  in  Lateran  instead  of  in  the  Vatican. 

Henry  VII.  made  an  alliance  with  Frederick  of 
Aragon  against  Florence  and  the  King  of  Naples,  and 
while  he  was  besieging  Florence,  during  three  months, 
a  third  wall  was  built  around  the  city  for  protection. 

Henry  VII.  had  already  established  the  power  of  the 
Visconti  in  Milan  and  subjected  Brescia  and  Cremona; 
and  he  seemed  about  to  gain  the  ascendancy  in  Italy 
when,  as  he  was  marching  up  the  country  from  Pisa 
with  a  powerful  army  in  the  August  of  1313,  he  sud- 
denly died,  poisoned  in  the  communion  cup  in  which 
his  coronation  had  at  last  been  consecrated.  He  was 
buried  in  Pisa,  which  had  always  been  faithful  to  him. 
This  was  the  last  attempt  of  the  German  rulers  to 
receive  the  Imperial  crown,  although  they  still  kept 
up  the  title.  Dante  in  his  "  Monarchia  "  strongly  ex- 
pressed the  disrespect  of  the  Italian  people  for  the 
German  rulers  and  for  the  empty  epithet  of  Emperor. 

In  the  beginning  the  Ghibellines  were  on  the  side 
of  the  Empire,  and  the  Guelphs  in  favor  of  the  Church ; 
but  later  the  Florentines  were  equally  indifferent  to 
Church  and  Emperor,  unless  they  worked  for  her  inter- 
ests ;  and  "  all  parties  confiscated  right  and  left,  whether 
they  called  themselves  Guelphs  or  Ghibellines,  Neri 
or  Bianchi,  or  later  Albizzi  and  Medici,  Arrabbiati  or 
Piagnoni."  This  struggle,  however,  between  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines  had  a  powerful  influence  on  all  subse- 
quent Italian  history,  since  it  proved  to  be  a  contention 
between  old  fossilized  institutions  and  progress. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  nobles 
were  men  of  arms  by  profession.  After  the  downfall 
of  Ezzelino  of  Romano  the  lords  of  Pisa,  Florence, 
Genoa  and  Bologna  got  the  upper  hand  and  were 


Age  of  the  Despots  55 

foremost  as  leaders  in  "The  Age  of  the  Despots." 
The  Scaligeri  rose  in  Verona,  the  Carraresi  in  Padua, 
the  Castrucci  in  Lucca,  the  Estensi  in  Ferrara,  and  in 
Ravenna  the  Polenta  family  ruled.  At  Rimini  the 
Malatesta,  and  at  Parma  the  Rossi,  at  Piacenza  the 
Scotti,  at  Faenza  the  Manfredi,  in  Genoa  the  Doria 
and  Spinola  were  the  despots,  while  all  the  time  the 
Visconti  ruled  the  Milanese.  These,  together  with 
Robert  of  Naples  and  Pope  John  XXIL,  were  contend- 
ing for  supremacy. 

A  story  of  the  Polenta  family  immortalized  by 
Dante  in  his  "  Inferno  "  is  one  of  the  most  tragic  in  his- 
tory. Francesca  da  Rimini,  the  beautiful  daughter  of 
Giovanni  da  Polenta  of  Ravenna,  had  been  given  in 
marriage  to  his  efficient  general,  Giovanni  Malatesta  of 
Rimini,  who  was  brave,  but  deformed  and  ugly.  The 
heart  of  Francesca  was  won  by  the  brother,  Paolo  the 
Handsome,  and  Dante  tells  the  rest : 

"One  day  for  our  delight  we  read  of  Lancelot, 

How  him  love  enthralled. 

The  book  and  writer  both  were  love's  purveyors, 
In  its  leaves  that  day  we  read  no  more." 

Giovanni,  jealous  of  his  brother,  murdered  them  both. 
This  happened  in  Pesaro  in  1284. 

The  government  of  all  the  Guelph  cities  was  much 
like  that  of  Florence.  A  Council  of  the  party  was  in 
time  added  to  the  General  Council  and  the  Parliament ; 
and  the  office  of  consul  gradually  yielded  to  the  priors 
chosen  from  the  Arts  and  Guilds ;  but  the  Gonfaloniere 
of  Justice  alone  held  a  check  upon  the  despotic  nobles. 
The  office  of  Podesta  was  taken  by  a  judge,  an  autocrat 
who  decided  all  civic  questions  and  declared  war. 

In  Rome  the  nobles  removed  Henry  VIL's  officers 


56  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

and  put  Sciarra  Colonna  and  Francesco  Orsini  in 
power  as  Senators.  But  the  people  rose  and,  driving 
these  out,  elected  Jacob  Arlotti  Captain,  with  twenty- 
six  "  boni  homines."  He  cast  the  nobles  into  prison 
and  demolished  their  strongholds,  so  that  a  civil  war 
ensued,  during  which  one  noble  family  united  with  the 
Ghibelline  party  and  another  with  the  Guelphs ;  and 
the  Orsini,  the  Colonna,  the  Velletri,  the  Savelli  and 
the  Gsetani  fought  in  their  turn.  There  are  many 
interesting  stories  connected  with  these  noble  families, 
and  many  romances  resulting  from  the  opposite  houses 
joining  their  fortunes  in  forbidden  marriages. 

The  Orsini  and  Colonna  were  the  most  noted  among 
these  cliques,  their  families  being  foes  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  Jealousy  with  regard  to  position  was 
the  ground  of  their  quarrel,  since  glory  redounded  to 
each  alike ;  and  besides  this,  they  belonged  to  opposite 
parties,  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  respectively. 

The  "  Ursini  "  migrated  from  Spoleto  in  the  twelfth 
century.  They  were  the  sons  of  Ursus,  who  was  at 
one  time  Senator  in  Rome,  and  styled  the  father  of 
their  race.  Soon  the  number  and  bravery  of  their 
kinsmen,  the  strength  of  their  fortifications,  their 
honor  as  statesmen,  and  the  elevation  of  two  of  them, 
Celestin  III.  and  Nicholas  III.,  increased  their  emolu- 
ments, Nicholas  III.  giving  the  estates  belonging  to 
the  Church  to  the  Orsini  family.  Earlier  their  power 
had  been  increased  by  the  marriage  of  Ursus'  son  to 
a  daughter  of  the  House  of  the  Gaetani.  The  castle 
of  Bracciano,  on  the  lake  of  the  same  name,  was  the 
chief  residence  of  the  family,  who  owned  many  strong- 
holds in  the  vicinity  of  Rome. 

The  names  and  arms  of  the  Colonna  are  still  sub- 
jects of  doubt.  Their  family  was  first  heard  of  in 


Age  of  the  Despots  57 

1104,  and  they  are  supposed  to  have  descended  from 
the  Counts  of  Tusculum.  "  The  pillar  entwined  in 
their  crest  and  embodied  in  their  name  has  been  cred- 
ited respectively  to  Trajan's  Column, the  Pillar  of  Her- 
cules, the  Column  of  Christ's  Flagellation,  and  also  the 
Pillar  of  Fire  which  guided  the  Israelites  through  the 
desert."  But  it  is  thought  that  the  family  ensign  was 
some  lofty  pillar  used  as  a  decoration  upon  their  heights 
in  some  of  their  estates  in  the  Campagna.  Nicholas  I. 
was  so  great  a  patron  of  their  family  that  he  has  been 
depicted  in  satirical  portraits  as  imprisoned  in  a  hollow 
pillar.  At  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  family 
consisted  of  an  uncle  and  six  brothers.  Soon  after  this 
we  hear  of  the  Colonna  in  connection  with  Boniface 
VIII.  The  eagle  and  keys  appeared  respectively  on 
the  banners  of  the  Orsini  and  Colonna ;  and  long  after 
the  grounds  of  their  early  quarrels  were  forgotten  they 
fought  on. 

In  1323,  after  a  long  strife,  Frederick  the  Fair  of 
Austria  had  been  overthrown  at  Miildorf,  and  Louis 
of  Bavaria,  or  Louis  IV.,  was  crowned  in  13^8  with  the 
Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  through  the  influence  of  the 
Italian  Ghibellines,  and  afterwards  in  Rome  by  two 
excommunicated  bishops,  who  were  soon  set  up  as  anti- 
Popes.  After  Matteo  Visconti  died,  Louis  installed 
Galeazzo,  his  son,  at  Milan,  but  for  political  reasons 
he  afterwards  imprisoned  him.  Louis  made  Castruc- 
cio  Castracani,  who  was  a  nobleman  in  his  bearing, 
though  one  of  the  great  adventurers  of  the  day,  Duke 
of  Lucca  as  well  as  Imperial  Vicar  and  Senator  of 
Rome.  Although  during  this  Age  of  the  Despots 
many  adventurers  followed  in  the  same  train,  Cas- 
truccio  was  the  first  man  of  his  class  to  receive  a  title 
which  became  hereditary. 


58  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Rome  at  first  welcomed  Louis  of  Bavaria  with  joy; 
but,  he  having  betrayed  the  Ghibelline  party,  who  had 
upheld  him  and  relied  on  his  support,  so  many  fac- 
tions arose,  that  in  1329  both  Louis  and  the  anti-Pope 
Nicholas,  whom  he  had  set  up,  were  obliged  to  take 
themselves  out  of  the  way.  After  the  election  of 
Benedict  XII.  the  Romans  attacked  the  capital  and  es- 
tablished a  democratic  government,  sending  to  Flor- 
ence for  a  model ;  but  their  reforms  did  not  apply  to 
Rome,  and  public  discord  reached  such  a  height  that 
Benedict  XII.  was  obliged  to  retire  to  Avignon,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Clement  VI.  in  1342. 

This  was  a  bitter  time  for  Florence  also,  for  she  too 
was  oppressed  by  Castruccio  Castrucani,  the  tyrant  of 
Lucca,  until  he  died  in  1328.  Florence  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  what  was  called  the  "Popolani  Grossi ", 
a  Plebeian  aristocracy,  and  in  her  trouble  she  had  called 
upon  Robert  of  Naples  for  aid.  He  was  now  old,  and 
accordingly  sent  his  son,  the  Duke  of  Calabria,  accom- 
panied by  Walter  of  Brienne,  Duke  of  Athens,  the 
duke's  lieutenant.  Walter  of  Brienne  was  "  crafty, 
clever  and  unscrupulous,"  and  in  1342,  by  flattering 
the  Florentines,  gained  control  of  the  city  for  life.  The 
nobles,  however,  after  a  year,  seeing  that  they  were 
denied  any  part  in  the  government,  drove  Walter  of 
Brienne  out  of  the  city.  The  people  soon  regretted 
this,  for  Florence  was  speedily  overrun  by  merce- 
naries now  employed  everywhere  in  Italy;  and  to 
complete  their  misery,  famine,  and  at  last  the  plague, 
stared  them  in  the  face. 

Robert  of  Naples  died  in  1343  at  the  age  of  eighty. 
He  offered  the  crown  to  Andrew,  son  of  his  nephew, 
King  of  Hungary,  on  condition  that  he  should  marry 
Joanna,  his  orphan  granddaughter.  She  was  a  charm- 


of  the  Despots  59 

ing  Italian  princess,  brought  up  in  one  of  the  most 
fashionable  courts  of  Europe;  and  she  soon  despised 
this  boorish  prince  who  had  become  her  husband. 
Accordingly  Robert  himself,  seeing  that  Andrew  could 
not  fill  the  position,  excluded  him  altogether  from  the 
succession,  and  left  the  throne  to  Joanna  under  a 
regency  until  she  became  of  age. 

Joanna  was  a  girl  of  only  sixteen,  gay,  high-strung, 
and  inexperienced ;  and  she  soon  became  demoralized. 
Tired  of  being  harassed  by  the  importunities  of  Andrew 
to  be  allowed  to  share  the  crown,  she  had  him  spirited 
away  into  the  country,  and,  after  a  revel  one  night,  he 
was  thrown  from  the  window  of  an  old  fortress. 
Joanna  married  Louis  of  Taranto  soon  after,  and  there 
was  so  much  scandal  connected  with  Andrew's  death 
that  the  latter's  brother,  Louis  of  Hungary,  without 
difficulty,  took  possession  of  the  throne  in  1347.  He 
soon  retired  to  Hungary,  however,  leaving  only  a 
fortified  garrison  for  defence;  and  Joanna,  gaining 
the  influence  of  Clement  VI.,  with  the  aid  of  her 
friends  regained  her  kingdom  after  three  years  of 
atrocious  barbarities  on  both  sides. 

Finally  Urban  VI.  excommunicated  Joanna  of 
Naples,  who  had  afterwards  married  successively 
James  of  Aragon  and  Otto  of  Brunswick,  and  installed 
Charles  Durazza  of  the  House  of  Anjou;  and  when 
Joanna,  having  no  children,  declared  Louis,  Duke  of 
Anjou,  uncle  of  Charles  VI.  of  France,  her  heir, 
Durazza  instigated  her  assassination.  Soon  after 
Durazza,  or  Charles  III.,  as  he  was  called,  was  himself 
slain.  He  left  a  son,  Ladislaus,  ten  years  old,  and  a 
daughter,  Joanna  II. ;  while  Louis  of  Anjou,  Joanna's 
heir,  at  his  death  left  a  boy,  styled  Louis  III. 
Ladislaus  at  the  age  of  sixteen  gained  influence  by 


60  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

marrying  a  wealthy  heiress,  and,  triumphantly  enter- 
ing Naples,  drove  out  his  rival,  Louis  III.,  thus  becom- 
ing the  head  of  the  Ghibellines,  or  anti-French  party. 

Ladislaus'  sister,  Joanna  II.,  succeeded  him  and, 
having  no  heirs,  adopted  Louis  III.  of  Anjou,  grand- 
son of  that  Louis  L,  the  successor  of  Joanna  I.  At  the 
death  of  Louis  III.,  Joanna  II.  then  chose  his  brother 
Rene,  but  as  soon  as  she  died  Alphonso  V.  of  Aragon, 
entitled  the  Magnanimous,  drove  Rene  out  and  became 
King  of  Aragon,  Naples  and  Sicily.  This  Alphonso 
has  the  reputation  of  being  the  wisest  and  most  popular 
sovereign  that  ever  ruled  over  the  Kingdom  of  Naples, 
his  reign  of  twenty-three  years  being  the  most  pros- 
perous period  of  the  Sicilian  kingdom.  Some  think 
that  his  government  formed  a  basis  on  which  Italian 
independence  might  have  been  secured. 

As  will  be  remembered,  the  complicated  history  of 
Naples  and  Sicily  dates  back  as  far  as  1053,  when  the 
leaders  of  the  Hauteville  family  did  homage  to  Pope 
Leo  IX.  for  all  conquests  they  had  made,  or  might 
make.  In  1130  the  Island  of  Sicily  under  Count  Roger 
was  united  with  Naples  in  one  social  body,  called  by  the 
Italians  a  "  regno,"  which  differed  in  its  social  insti- 
tutions and  foreign  relations  from  the  rest  of  Italy. 
Charles  of  Anjou,  after  his  victory  at  Grandella,  in  the 
year  1265,  had  gained  the  United  Kingdom,  calling  it 
the  "  Two  Sicilies,"  and  Naples  was  the  capital ;  but 
in  consequence  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers  he  was  obliged 
to  relinquish  Sicily  in  1282,  although  he  continued  to 
be  King  of  Naples.  After  this  the  two  kingdoms 
were  separated  until  the  year  1442,  when,  as  has  been 
seen,  this  same  Alphonso  V.  expelled  Rene  of  Anjou 
from  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  and  reunited  the  Two 
Sicilies  under  his  rule.  They  continued  thus  until  his 


Age  of  the  Despots  61 

death  in  1458,  when  they  were  again  separated  until 
1504.  With  short  interruptions  after  this  they  both 
continued  under  Spanish  rule  until  1861,  when  through 
the  cession  by  Garibaldi  of  his  conquests  to  the  scepter 
of  the  House  of  Savoy,  they  were  absorbed  into  the 
present  Italian  kingdom. 

During  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  wars 
were  carried  on  largely  by  mercenaries,  mostly  adven- 
turers who  were  called  "  Free  Companies."  This  kind 
of  fighting  force  was  first  collected  from  disbanded 
German,  British,  and  French  soldiers,  whom  the  Vis- 
conti,  Castruccio  Castrucani,  etc.,  took  into  their  pay. 
Among  them  were  Fra  Monreale,  Count  Lando  and 
Duke  Werner,  the  last  the  captain  of  the  first  "  Great 
Company  "  and  styled  "  The  Enemy  of  God,  of  Pity 
and  of  Mercy  " ;  these  were  some  of  the  names  of  this 
kind  of  brigand  which  have  come  down  to  us.  Fra 
Monreale  was  afterwards  the  captain  of  the  "  Great 
Company  of  Knights  of  St.  John,"  and  was  as  noted  in 
his  day  as  any  of  the  princes.  He  has  been  handed 
down  in  the  romances  which  have  for  their  basis  the 
unsettled  state  of  the  society  of  that  era.  His  band 
was  employed  by  the  League  of  Montferrat,  La  Scala, 
Caresi  and  Este  to  check  the  Visconti. 

The  Free  Companies  became  a  great  curse  to  Italy, 
since  the  Italians  themselves  soon  discovered  that  this 
kind  of  service  offered  a  profitable  career  to  men  of 
daring.  Albericp  da  Barbiano,  a  noble  of  Romagna, 
Italianized  the  profession  of  "  mercenary  arms  "  and 
formed  the  Company  of  St.  George.  These  mer- 
cenaries as  a  class  were  called  condottieri,  and  with 
them  dawned  a  new  military  era.  Thus  "heavily 
armed  cavaliers,  officered  by  professional  captains, 
fought  the  battles  of  Italy,  while  despots  and  republics 


62  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

schemed  in  their  castles  or  debated  in  the  Council 
chambers."  The  remuneration  of  these  men-at-arms 
was  greater  than  that  of  the  best-paid  artisans;  and 
the  perils  of  war  at  that  era  being  inconsiderable,  in 
the  course  of  time  the  ranks  of  the  condottieri  were 
recruited  largely  from  the  "  needy  nobility  of  Italy," 
who  were  fascinated  by  the  life  of  daring  and  the 
wealth  to  be  gained.  Courtesy  was  the  rule  between 
these  licensed  bandits.  They  had  a  code  of  honor 
which  did  not  permit  imprisonment  and  spared  the 
lives  of  the  enemy  of  the  same  class. 

The  "  Great  Company  "  was  the  first  example  of  a 
strolling  band  of  soldiers  kept  up  for  the  sake  of  plun- 
der. As  early  as  1339  this  "  Great  Company "  was 
broken  up  through  the  continued  efforts  of  the  Floren- 
tines, though  the  custom  of  carrying  on  war  by  means 
of  mercenaries  still  went  on.  Battles  soon  became  less 
bloody,  and  "  gayly  caparisoned  cavalry  "  was  intro- 
duced in  place  of  the  old-time  militia;  and  war  soon 
degenerated  into  a  selfish  contract  between  nations 
and  their  own  armies,  which  resulted  in  intrigue  and 
treachery.  A  company  of  English  soldiers  came  over 
to  the  peninsula,  led  by  Sir  John  Hawkwood,  really  a 
condottieri  leader  of  what  was  called  the  "  White 
Company "  ;  and  he  at  first  fought  bravely  for  the 
Pisans  against  the  Florentines  and  the  rest  of 
Tuscany. 

The  rise  of  mercenaries  marks  the  epoch  when  Ital- 
ian despotism  became  the  most  insupportable.  At  first 
the  tyrants  got  into  public  favor  by  being  appointed 
captains  of  the  people  and  vicars  of  the  city.  In  order 
to  make  their  government  seem  protective,  they  freed 
the  people  from  military  service  by  employing  these 
mercenaries;  and  at  the  same  time  they  rendered  the 


Age  of  the  Despots  63 

old  aristocracy  powerless.  As  they  grew  stronger  they 
advanced  hereditary  claims,  and,  assuming  titles,  soon 
took  on  the  style  of  petty  sovereigns.  Although  they 
used  bribery  instead  of  coercion,  there  was  no  limit 
to  their  cruelty.  Galeazzo  Visconti  and  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici  were  examples  of  this  mode  of  despotism,  which 
"  reigned  by  terrorism  behind  a  smile." 

Notwithstanding  all  these  dissensions,  the  arts  and 
sciences  flourished.  Giotto  and  Cimabue  invested  the 
art  of  painting  with  new  life.  Petrarch,  as  a  follower 
of  Dante,  helped  to  create  the  most  melodious  and 
flexible  of  languages  out  of  old  barbarous  idioms.  He 
enjoyed,  while  living,  the  praises  of  his  contemporaries, 
as  kneeling  before  the  throne  in  Rome  he  received  the 
laurel  crown,  while  the  people  shouted  "  Long  live  the 
Capitol  and  the  Poet."  It  was  a  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Arts  in  poetry,  and  was  invented  by  the  German 
Emperors ;  and  from  this  time  the  custom  of  having  a 
poet  laureate  has  been  kept  up  in  England.  Petrarch 
was  born  in  1304,  and  lived  half  of  his  life  in  the  valley 
of  Vaucluse  near  Avignon;  and  in  his  verses  he  cel- 
ebrated his  love  for  Laura,  the  beautiful  and  virtuous, 
whose  image  in  all  his  wanderings  he  could  never  tear 
from  his  heart.  Even  the  laurel  crown  was  dearer  to 
him  because  its  name  was  like  that  of  his  adored  Laura. 
Their  reclining  statues,  side  by  side,  are  seen  to-day  in 
the  old  museum  at  Avignon  in  southern  France. 
Petrarch  died  irr  1374. 

Giovanni  Boccaccio  was  born  in  1313  and  died  in 
1375.  He  accomplished  for  Italian  prose  what 
Petrarch  did  for  its  poetry.  He  wrote  in  the  Tuscan 
language,  and  in  his  collection  of  novels  he  makes  a 
burlesque  of  the  wickedness  of  the  times. 

The  two  Malespina  were  the  earliest  Italian  his- 


64  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

torians ;  and  Giovanni  Villani,  who  died  of  the  plague, 
also  graphically  chronicled  events  of  the  times,  as  did 
Matteo  and  Philippe,  his  brother  and  nephew.  During 
the  century  and  a  half  between  1309,  when  Clement  V. 
settled  at  Avignon,  and  1447,  when  Nicholas  V.  re- 
established the  Papacy  at  Rome  on  a  more  solid  basis, 
the  Italians  are  said  to  have  come  nearer  self-govern- 
ment than  at  any  other  epoch.  At  a  period  a  little 
later  the  peninsula  was  divided  up  into  five  principal 
powers,  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  the  Duchy  of  Milan, 
the  republic  of  Florence,  the  republic  of  Venice,  and 
the  Papal  States,  and  their  united  influence  for  forty- 
five  years  secured  a  brilliant  season  of  peace  and  pros- 
perity. 

The  history  of  Rome  from  this  era  was  to  a  large 
degree  swallowed  up  in  that  of  the  Papal  States. 

In  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  floods,  fam- 
ines and,  in  1348,  a  fearful  plague,  which  had  earlier 
devastated  the  East,  visited  Italy.  Naples  lost  sixty 
thousand  of  her  inhabitants,  Pisa  more  than  half  of  hers, 
while  Siena  never  regained  her  pristine  prosperity. 
Boccaccio  in  his  fascinating,  though  often  corrupt, 
writing,  gave  a  wonderful  account  of  the  sufferings 
of  his  native  city  at  the  time  of  this  pestilence  of  1348, 
which  was  called  the  "  Plague  of  Florence."  Under 
the  terrible  affliction,  men,  terrorized  by  overshadow- 
ing death,  became  lawless  and  strangers  to  natural 
affection. 

Meanwhile  Rome  was  the  scene  of  great  disorder. 
Through  all  the  strife  in  the  rest  of  Italy  the  Romans 
had  kept  up  the  desire  of  governing  themselves,  and  in 
1347  they  were  still  further  aroused  by  one  Cola  di 
Rienzi,  called  the  "Last  of  the  Tribunes."  Though 
only  a  notary  and  the  son  of  a  Roman  innkeeper,  this 


Age  of  the  Despots  65 

gifted  man  had  a  striking  presence  and  a  refined  mind. 
Early  in  his  life  his  brother  had  been  slain  by  one  of 
the  Colonna  family,  and  in  his  desire  for  vengeance 
he  had  imbibed  a  hatred  for  the  whole  race  of  nobles 
with  a  passionate  love  for  the  republic. 

Rienzi  held  everyone  spellbound  who  came  within 
the  sound  of  his  voice,  and  he  at  length  believed  him- 
self divinely  inspired  to  revive  the  ancient  glories  of 
Rome.  He  had  been  made  tribune  by  the  Romans 
and  Pope  Clement  VI.  at  first  seemed  to  endorse  his 
views.  In  the  May  of  1347,  after  Rienzi  had  returned 
from  an  audience  with  His  Holiness,  he  draped  him- 
self in  a  toga  decorated  with  figures  allegorical  of 
his  mission,  and  appeared  in  the  presence  of  a  few 
burghers  and  merchants,  announcing  to  them  a  speedy 
restoration  of  Rome's  ancient  grandeur;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  made  a  solemn  vow  to  overthrow  the 
nobility  and  consolidate  the  republic. 

It  was  a  favorable  moment;  for  there  was  anarchy 
in  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  the  Pope  was  for  a  time 
absent,  and  the  Empire  had  been  only  a  tottering  fabric 
for  many  years.  Rienzi  spent  the  night  of  May  19, 
1347,  in  the  town  hall;  and,  having  placed  the  enter- 
prise under  the  protection  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  con- 
voked a  Parliament  of  the  people  in  the  Capitol  to 
arrange  laws,  raise  an  army,  and  provide  for  the  public 
need  and  safety. 

On  the  day  that  Rienzi  was  publicly  proclaimed 
tribune  the  nobles,  though  they  retired  scoffing,  were 
alarmed;  for  Stephen  Colonna  was  away  with  his 
forces  at  Palestrina,  and  the  revolution  every  moment 
was  making  great  headway.  With  a  bodyguard  of  one 
hundred  men  Rienzi  assumed  command  of  the 
extemporized  army,  and  retained,  in  place  of  the  reg- 


66  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

ular  Senate,  the  "  Thirteen,"  which  had  been  estab- 
lished as  a  Council  in  a  previous  revolution.  Rienzi 
also  had  a  higher  ambition  than  simply  a  local  uprising. 
He  at  once  despatched  envoys  all  over  Italy,  exhort- 
ing the  people  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  the  tyrant.  At 
the  annual  Latin  Festival  held  in  St.  Peter's,  the  canons 
met  him  on  the  steps  chanting  "  Veni  Creator 
Spiritus" ;  the  provincial  cities  throughout  the  penin- 
sula did  homage  to  him,  and  even  Petrarch  lauded 
Rome's  tribune  as  the  greatest  ruler  of  ancient  or 
modern  times. 

Rienzi's  head  was  completely  turned  by  so  much 
adulation ;  and,  issuing  a  proclamation  that  Rome 
would  resume  her  jurisdiction  over  the  world,  he 
granted  citizenship  to  all  the  towns  of  Italy. 

This  zeal  of  the  people  was  mainly  fictitious;  for, 
though  the  theories  were  plausible,  scarcely  any  one 
was  ready  to  respond  with  deeds.  It  was  the  keen- 
ness of  Rienzi's  prophetic  insight  which  immortalized 
his  name ;  for  in  his  high  pitch  of  enthusiasm  he  looked 
beyond  the  ages,  as  did  Dante  and  Petrarch,  and  saw 
in  a  vast  panorama  before  him  a  vision  of  the  nation 
as  consolidated  to-day.  He  had  not,  however,  the  tact 
nor  practical  skill  to  gain  over  the  nobles,  since  he 
would  not  sacrifice  personal  animosities  to  the  general 
good ;  and  thus  he  was  not  able  to  suppress  the  now 
united  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  factions  of  the  Orsini 
and  Colonna.  These,  upheld  by  the  Pope,  now  weary 
of  toleration,  moved  on  Rome  on  the  3Oth  of  November 
from  Palestrina  and  encamped  before  the  city. 

Rienzi  called  out  his  militia,  and  a  hard  fight  ensued, 
in  which  eighty  of  the  nobles,  mostly  the  Colonna, 
were  left  dead  upon  the  field.  This  so  weakened  the 
aristocracy  that  they  never  again  attained  supremacy 


Age  of  the  Despots  67 

in  the  government  of  the  republic;  but  the  strength 
of  Rienzi's  rule  was  also  broken.  He  was  accused  of 
heresy,  and  the  people  were  tired  of  bearing  the  burden 
of  his  immense  public  and  private  expenses.  At  last 
after  seven  months  he  lost  heart,  and,  finding  that  his 
forces  were  deserting,  he  retired  to  the  Castle  of  St. 
Angelo  on  the  I5th  of  December,  1347,  and  afterwards 
fled  to  Naples. 

For  two  years  Rienzi  led  a  life  of  "  mystic  con- 
templation "  in  the  Abruzzi,  seeing  visions  and  dream- 
ing dreams  and  still  believing  that  he  was  divinely 
appointed  to  set  up  a  mighty  and  glorious  kingdom 
which  would  redound  to  the  honor  of  God  and  his  own 
greatness.  For  seven  years  he  wandered  in  disguise 
through  the  cities  of  Italy  and  among  the  hermits  of 
the  Apennines,  until  at  last  he  threw  himself  on  the 
generosity  of  Charles  IV.,  and  woke  up  to  find  him- 
self a  prisoner  at  Prague.  The  semi-centennial  Jubi- 
lee of  the  Church  being  about  to  take  place,  every  effort 
was  made  to  keep  peace,  and  in  1350  Charles  IV.  of 
Germany,  before  he  could  be  crowned,  was  obliged  to 
deliver  up  Rienzi  to  Pope  Innocent  VI.  in  Avignon. 
The  Pope,  thinking  that  it  would  be  a  popular  move- 
ment, and  also  influenced  by  Petrarch's  eulogies  of 
Rienzi  in  verse,  released  him,  allowing  him  to  return 
as  a  Senator  to  Rome,  with  Cardinal  Albornoz,  who 
was  sent  there  to  arrange  Church  matters  for  the 
Jubilee. 

Rienzi,  in  August,  1354,  again  entered  the  city,  with 
five  hundred  soldiers,  and  passing  through  the  Castello 
Gate  took  possession  of  the  government  for  the  second 
time.  Having  received  funds  for  the  campaign  from 
the  two  brothers  Fra  Monreale,  he  sent  them  as  cap- 
tains to  surround  the  remnant  of  the  Colonna  at 


68  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Palestrina.  Unfortunately,  soon  after  this,  Fra  Mon- 
reale  himself  was  murdered;  and  it  is  suspected  that 
Rienzi,  being  again  short  of  money,  instigated  the  deed 
in  order  to  gain  further  supplies,  though  it  is  generally 
understood  that  Fra  Monreale  was  plotting  to  kill  him. 
The  death  of  the  latter  caused  so  great  excitement 
among  the  people  that  Rienzi  lost  his  influence,  and 
when  a  new  taxation  was  agitated  they  rose  in  open 
revolt,  and  on  the  8th  of  October  stormed  the  Capitol, 
shouting  "  Death  to  the  traitor." 

The  spell  of  Rienzi's  magnetic  presence  was  at  last 
broken.  When  he  presented  himself  at  the  window, 
never  doubting  that  his  eloquence  would  charm  the 
people  as  of  old,  missiles  were  hurled  at  him  and  the 
palace  fired.  Finally,  giving  up  all  for  lost,  he  shaved 
his  head  and  in  the  disguise  of  a  shepherd  contempt- 
ibly tried  to  pass  himself  off  as  one  of  his  own  enemies, 
joining  in  cries  against  himself.  He  was  recognized, 
however,  by  the  golden  bracelets  he  had  forgotten  to 
remove  from  his  arms,  and  was  finally  struck  down 
and  repeatedly  stabbed.  Such  was  the  ignominious 
fate  of  the  man  who  had  seemed  destined  to  fill  the 
world  with  his  name  and  glory  as  the  regenerator  of 
Italy. 


Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Visconti  69 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  VISCONTI. THE  CHIOMPI  INSURRECTION  IN  FLOR- 
ENCE.— THE  BABYLONIAN  CAPTIVITY  OF  THE  POPES. — 
THE  GREAT  SCHISM. 

1349—1435  A.D. 

THE  VISCONTI,  who  first  appeared  about  1037, 
in  the  time  of  Conrad  II.,  came  upon  the  scene, 
one  after  another,  like  spectral  figures,  and,  after 
exerting  a  baleful  influence  on  the  people  of  Lom- 
bardy  for  more  than  four  centuries,  vanished.  With 
few  vicissitudes,  they  had  been  growing  more  and 
more  powerful  ever  since  Otto,  the  archbishop,  in 
1277,  seized  the  power  from  the  hands  of  the  Delia 
Torre  family,  by  shutting  up  Napoleone  and  five  of 
his  kinsmen  in  the  three  iron  cages  now  seen  in  Como. 
Pagano  della  Torre  had  placed  the  Milanese  under 
everlasting  obligations  by  saving  the  remnant  of  their 
army  after  the  Battle  of  Corte  Nuova ;  and  that  family 
was  in  power  ever  after  until,  on  account  of  demo- 
cratic measures,  they  made  themselves  unpopular  with 
the  nobility,  especially  the  Visconti. 

In  1312  Matteo,  a  nephew  of  Otto,  was  appointed 
Imperial  Vicar,  and  that  same  year  succeeded  in  exter- 
minating the  last  of  the  Torriani.  Two  years  later 
Charles  IV.  was  sent  for,  to  check  the  influence  of  the 
Visconti  in  Lombardy.  He  did  not  prove  powerful 
enough,  however,  to  curb  their  tyranny,  and  from  that 
era  the  decline  of  Imperial  power  in  Italy  was  rapid. 
Azzo  succeeded  Matteo  and  the  latter's  uncle  Lucchino 


7O  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

followed  in  1339.  He  was  murdered  ten  years  later 
by  his  wife,  and  in  the  person  of  his  brother,  the  Arch- 
bishop Giovanni,  there  appears  one  of  the  most  notable 
characters  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  reign  of 
this  "  masterful  Prelate  "  marks  a  new  era  in  the  des- 
potism of  the  Visconti,  who  had  now  become  self- 
made  sovereigns  with  a  well-established  power  and 
wide  extent  of  territory. 

The  Pope,  resenting  the  encroachments  of  Arch- 
bishop Giovanni,  sent  for  him  to  come  to  Avignon. 
The  primate  replied  that  he  would  march  thither  with 
twelve  thousand  cavalry  and  six  thousand  infantry. 
He  is  handed  down  in  portraits  with  a  drawn  sword 
in  the  right  hand  and  a  crosier  in  his  left.  Soon  after 
this  mandate  of  the  Pope  he  thus  appeared  in  the 
cathedral  at  Milan,  where,  unsheathing  the  flashing 
sword  and  taking  the  cross,  he  said :  "  This  is  my 
spiritual  scepter,  and  I  will  wield  it  in  defense  of  my 
Empire."  Immediately  after,  he  sent  to  Avignon  to 
engage  lodgings  for  his  train  and  soldiers  for  six 
months.  Although  the  Pope  had  summoned  him, 
after  this  he  was  "  fain  to  decline  so  terrible  a  guest." 

Giovanni  died  in  1353,  having  established  the  rule 
of  the  Visconti  over  more  than  twenty  cities  of  north- 
ern Italy;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  aimed  at  the 
crown  of  the  Empire.  The  succession  fell  to  three 
sons  of  one  Stephano:  Matteo,  Bernabo  and  Galeazzo, 
who  shared  Milan  and  Genoa  in  joint  rule  and  divided 
the  rest  of  the  dominion  between  them.  The  brothers 
soon  disposed  of  the  dissolute  Matteo  and  ruled  to- 
gether in  harmony.  Galeazzo,  the  youngest  son, 
was  distinguished  as  being  the  handsomest  man  of  his 
age.  He  was  tall  and  graceful,  wearing  his  hair  long 
and  in  a  net,  and  sometimes  in  braids  down  his  shoul- 


Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Visconti  71 

ders.  He  spent  much  of  his  vast  wealth  in  shows, 
festivals  and  in  magnificent  buildings.  His  prodigal 
tastes  led  him  to  seek  royal  marriages  for  his  children, 
his  daughter  Violante  marrying  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 
son  of  Edward  III.  He  gave  her  as  a  dowry  two 
hundred  thousand  florins  and  five  cities  on  the  frontier 
of  Piedmont.  The  Duke  of  Clarence,  when  he  went 
to  espouse  Violante,  left  the  city  of  London,  with  "  un- 
paved  streets  and  thatched-roofed  houses,  to  enter  the 
luxurious  marble  palaces  of  Lombardy  rising  above 
highways  smoothly  paved  with  stone."  Gian  Galeazzo, 
the  brother  of  Violante,  with  his  young  friends  brought 
as  gifts  three  score  of  horses  with  trappings  of  silver 
and  gold;  and  there  were  among  the  presents  fine 
cuirasses  and  crested  helmets  and  coats-of-arms  inlaid 
with  precious  stones  and  crimson  cloths  for  raiment. 
The  remains  after  the  wedding  feast  were  sufficient 
for  ten  thousand  men.  Galeazzo  delighted  in  parad- 
ing such  wealth  in  the  presence  of  the  feudal  nobles 
of  the  North,  and  in  introducing  as  his  honored  guest 
his  friend  Petrarch,  then  the  greatest  literary  man  of 
Europe.  His  son  Gian  Galeazzo  soon  after  married 
Isabel,  daughter  of  the  King  of  France,  the  ceremony 
taking  place  with  equal  splendor.  Galeazzo's  court 
was  at  Pavia,  while  his  brother  Bernabo  reigned  at 
Milan,  and  both  were  noted  for  their  heartlessness  and 
great  cruelty. 

Next  to  Archbishop  Giovanni,  Gian  Galeazzo,  who 
succeeded  at  the  death  of  his  father,  Galeazzo,  in  1378, 
was  the  most  remarkable  Visconti  of  them  all,  and  his 
reign,  which  lasted  until  1402,  forms  a  distinct  chapter 
in  Italian  history.  Shutting  himself  up  in  Pavia,  he 
set  systematically  to  work  to  supplant  his  uncle  Ber- 
nabo by  feigning  the  constitutional  physical  timidity  of 


72  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  race,  at  the  same  time  pretending  to  be  a  religious 
enthusiast.  This  led  his  uncle  and  cousins  to  regard 
him  almost  as  an  imbecile,  and  accordingly  easily  dis- 
posed of.  Thus,  when  in  1385  Gian  Galeazzo  declared 
his  intention  of  making  a  pilgrimage  to  Varese,  and 
started  out  from  Pavia  with  a  bodyguard  of  Germans, 
his  uncles  with  his  sons  unsuspectingly  came  forth  to 
meet  him  near  Milan.  Pretending  to  welcome  them, 
his  German  troopers,  at  a  signal,  took  them  all  pris- 
oners, and  Gian  Galeazzo,  after  poisoning  them,  pro- 
claimed himself  Lord  of  the  Visconti. 

Gian  Galeazzo  was  devoted  alike  to  business  and 
pleasure,  never,  however,  neglecting  the  former  for  the 
latter ;  and  under  him  the  Visconti  reached  the  summit 
of  their  greatness.  He  associated  with  men  of  letters, 
and  to  a  great  degree  led  an  intellectual  life.  It  was 
he  who  built  the  magnificently  beautiful  Certosa  di 
Pavia,  earlier  noted  as  a  Carthusian  monastery,  now  a 
museum  sustained  by  the  State;  and  in  order  fur- 
ther to  gratify  his  taste  for  splendor,  Gian  Galeazzo 
founded  the  Cathedral  at  Milan.  He  also  finished 
the  palace  at  Pavia  which  his  father  had  begun,  and 
revived  the  University  there.  Among  other  large 
engineering  projects  he  devised  a  plan  for  turning  the 
Mincio  and  Brenta  from  their  channels  in  order  to 
dry  the  lagoons  of  Venice,  thus  hoping  to  bring  the 
Lion  of  St.  Mark's  to  his  feet. 

With  all  his  great  conceptions,  no  minor  details  were 
too  small  for  Gian  Galeazzo's  attention.  He  inaugu- 
rated a  system  of  paid  clerks  and  secretaries  of  depart- 
ments, having  his  ledgers  kept  with  as  great  exactness, 
and  his  correspondence  as  carefully  filed  and  copied, 
as  business  men  of  the  present  day.  His  wealth 
enabled  him  to  keep  in  his  service  the  chief  condot- 


Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Visconti  73 

tieri,  whom  he  pensioned.  In  this  way  a  great  impulse 
was  given  to  the  false  military  system  which  did  so 
much  harm  in  Italy.  The  disputes  of  his  neighbors 
gave  him  vast  opportunities  to  extend  his  power.  The 
only  cities  which  dared  to  contend  with  him  were 
Florence  and  Venice.  In  an  alliance  with  the  Vene- 
tians he  crushed  the  Delia  Scala  family  in  Verona 
and  the  Carrara  in  Padua,  the  d'Este  in  Ferrara,  and 
the  Gonzago  in  Mantua.  The  whole  of  Lombardy  soon 
became  prostrate  before  this  Milanese  despot,  the 
name  of  "  Great  Serpent "  being  given  to  the  tyrants 
of  the  Visconti,  in  allusion  to  the  idea  of  the  great 
viper  absorbing  all  the  smaller  snakes.  Yet  like  the 
rest  of  his  family,  Gian  Galeazzo  was  physically  timid, 
the  least  unexpected  sound  almost  throwing  him  into 
convulsions.  Accordingly  he  was  always  taking  the 
strictest  measures  against  assassination. 

Gian  Galeazzo  was  the  first  Duke  of  Milan.  Seven 
years  before  his  death  he  bought  the  title  from  Em- 
peror Wencelaus  for  one  hundred  thousand  florins, 
Pavia  alone  not  being  included  in  the  Duchy,  since  he 
was  made  only  the  Count  of  Pavia.  Afterwards  he 
forced  Ruprecht,  the  successor  of  Wencelaus,  who 
came  down  to  seize  his  vast  possessions,  to  retire  again 
across  the  Alps.  Nothing  could  have  prevented  this 
ruthless  potentate  from  obtaining  the  sovereignty  of 
the  whole  of  Italy,  for  which  he  was  aiming,  had  not 
the  plague  cut  off  his  treacherous  career.  In  1402  he 
retired  to  his  island  fortress  of  Marignano  in  order 
to  escape  its  ravages.  As  he  was  dying,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-four,  he  pointed  to  a  comet  in  the  sky,  saying, 
that  God  could  but  thus  signalize  the  approaching  end 
of  so  supreme  a  ruler. 

From  his  armchair  in   Milan,  Gian  Galeazzo  had 


74  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

trained  a  band  of  commanders  to  carry  out  his  plans. 
Nevertheless,  at  his  death,  his  children  being  minors, 
his  kingdom  quickly  fell  to  pieces.  His  son  Giovanni 
Maria  succeeded  him  in  1412,  but  soon  fell  a  victim 
to  his  own  cruelty,  being  assassinated  by  his  nobles. 
Filippo  Maria,  the  latter's  brother,  reigned  thirty-five 
years,  which  era  covered  many  wars  and  much  brutal 
bloodshed.  He  was  the  last  in  the  male  line  of  the  Vis- 
conti.  He  married  the  widow  of  Facino  Cane,  who 
possessed  great  wealth,  and,  having  used  her  money,  he 
had  her  beheaded  on  a  false  charge.  He,  like  Charles 
V.,  is  said  to  have  been  outwitted  by  his  own  cunning, 
often  defeating  his  aims  at  the  point  of  achievement 
by  his  own  duplicity. 

At  this  era  the  Scotti,  the  Correggi,  and  the  Mala- 
testa  held  sway  at  Piacenza,  Cremona  and  Brescia, 
respectively.  The  little  State  of  Romagna  was  overrun 
by  the  Count  of  Barbiano,  who,  with  his  famous  Free 
Company,  entered  the  service  of  Boniface  IX.  The 
Count  of  Savoy,  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  and  the 
Lords  of  Padua,  Ferrara  and  Mantua  profited  by  the 
late  reverses  of  the  Visconti,  and  soon  after  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fifteenth  century  were  the  only  independent 
sovereigns  of  northern  Italy,  since  finally  Francesco 
di  Carrara  was  forced  to  yield  to  the  Venetians  and 
was  strangled  by  the  order  of  the  Council  of  Ten. 

While  Milan  had  been  usurping  the  Lombard  prin- 
cipalities under  the  Visconti,  Genoa  and  Venice  had 
established  large  factories  along  the  Black  Sea,  in 
which  they  prepared  spices  and  merchandise  brought 
from  India;  and  for  the  next  half  century  these  two 
cities  fought  many  battles,  first  the  Venetians  gaining 
the  victory,  and  then  the  Genoese.  Gunpowder  had 
now  begun  to  be  used  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  did 


Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Visconti  75 

much  more  effective  work  than  the  old  weapons.  One 
of  the  worst  fights  between  the  two  cities  took  place 
in  January,  1352,  when  the  Venetian  galleys  met  the 
Genoese  in  the  Bosphorus  near  Constantinople,  greatly 
outnumbering  them,  and  causing  fearful  slaughter  in 
their  ranks.  The  Venetian  fleet  was  almost  annihi- 
lated and  four  or  five  thousand  were  slain  on  both 
sides.  All  the  Dukes  of  Lombardy,  worn  out  by  the 
despotism  of  the  Visconti,  now  united  with  Venice  as 
his  common  enemy  against  Genoa,  then  a  fief  of  the 
Duke ;  but  finally  all  parties  were  obliged  to  appeal  to 
Charles  IV.,  who  for  a  time  catered  to  everybody  in 
order  to  secure  the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy.  But 
Genoa  after  three  years  came  under  the  power  of  the 
Visconti. 

The  residence  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon,  called  the 
Babylonian  Captivity,  beginning  in  1309,  lasted  until 
1375.  Seven  Popes  in  succession  resided  there  in 
opulence  and  voluptuous  splendor,  until  the  north  of 
France  was  overrun  by  King  Edward  III/s  troops, 
and  the  Free  Companies  in  their  restless  wanderings 
in  search  of  booty  had  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Valley 
of  Vaucluse.  Then  Urban  V.,  alarmed,  and  influenced 
by  Charles  IV.  of  Germany,  decided  to  return  with  the 
Papal  Court  to  Rome,  where  he  remained  three  years, 
greatly  magnifying  Papal  grandeur.  But  there  was 
no  repose  in  Rome,  since  Charles  IV.,  by  his  active 
diplomacy,  was  keeping  Italy  as  well  as  Germany  in  a 
ferment,  and  all  the  various  factions  were  at  never- 
ending  war  with  each  other.  Accordingly  Urban  V. 
returned  to  Avignon,  and  his  successor,  Gregory  XL, 
died  as  he  was  about  to  restore  the  Papal  residence 
again  to  Rome;  and  the  Cardinals  now  met  to  choose 
his  successor. 


76  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

The  famous  schism,  which  desolated  Europe  for 
forty  years,  had  already  begun ;  and,  since  the  French 
and  Spanish  Cardinals  were  in  the  majority,  the  people 
feared  that  a  foreign  pontiff  might  be  elected.  Ac- 
cordingly thirty  magistrates  were  chosen,  delegated  to 
represent  the  wishes  of  the  people  in  the  Sacred  Col- 
lege. The  Cardinals,  however,  silenced  the  magis- 
trates by  telling  them  that  they  must  not  meddle,  since 
the  matter  was  a  subject  properly  under  the  guidance 
of  the  Holy  Spirit;  but  the  people  were  not  satisfied 
with  this,  and  assumed  the  responsibility  themselves, 
surrounding  the  Vatican  and  haranguing  the  Council, 
telling  them  that  they  should  hold  that  body  as  surety 
that  an  Italian  Pope  would  be  elected.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Bari  was  soon  chosen  as  Urban  VI.,  and  the 
populace  was  satisfied;  but  when  he,  as  Pope,  decided 
that  no  one  outside  of  Italy  could  take  part  in  Church 
government,  the  Holy  See  revoked  their  decree  and 
elected  Clement  VII.  as  anti-Pope,  the  real  Clement 
VII.  coming  two  centuries  later. 

Spain  and  Sicily  adhered  to  the  anti-Pope,  while 
England,  Germany,  Hungary  and  Portugal,  together 
with  Italy,  supported  Urban  VI.,  both  Popes  proving 
equally  obnoxious.  The  latter  established  himself  at 
Rome  with  nineteen  Italian  Cardinals,  while  Clement 
VII.  retired  to  Avignon  with  most  of  the  old  Cardinals, 

Urban  VI,  who  had  caused  the  schism  in  the 
Church,  died  in  1389.  After  two  other  Popes  had 
passed  away,  Gregory  XII.  was  chosen  as  the  Roman 
candidate;  and  upon  the  death  of  the  anti-Pope, 
Clement  VII.,  the  Cardinals  of  Avignon  chose  Bene- 
dict XIII.  in  his  place  as  anti-Pope.  The  Cardinals 
refused  to  recognize  either,  and,  though  everybody  con- 
nected with  the  Church  was  chagrined  at  the  quarrel, 


Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Visconti  77 

they  summoned  both  Popes  to  appear  at  a  General 
Council  at  Pisa.  When  the  two  Popes  resisted  the  de- 
crees of  these  Cardinals,  together  with  the  prelates 
and  ambassadors  from  all  parts  of  the  Christian 
world,  the  Council  deposed  both  Gregory  XII.  and 
Benedict  XIIL,  electing  Alexander  V.  Benedict 
XIII.  then  called  a  Council  at  Perpignan,  a  gloomy 
fortress  on  the  frontier  of  Spain,  while  Gregory  XII. 
rallied  his  forces  at  Ravenna  and  Alexander  V.  estab- 
lished himself  in  Rome,  all  sending  out  Bulls  of  Ex- 
communication among  the  rulers  of  Europe  according 
to  their  different  prejudices. 

While  these  ecclesiastical  dissensions  were  going  on, 
Braccio  da  Montone,  the  great  kader,  and  the  peasant 
warrior,  Sforza  Attendolo,  fought  respectively  for 
Florence  and  for  Naples,  where  Ladislaus,  the  son  of 
Charles  Durazza  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  power. 
Florence,  in  order  to  defeat  Ladislaus,  desired  a  univer- 
sally acknowledged  Pope.  Accordingly,  Braccio  da 
Montone,  acting  in  her  behalf,  entered  Rome  and 
forced  the  people  to  acknowledge  Alexander  V.  In 
a  short  time,  however,  the  latter  died,  and  Pope  John 
XXIII.,  who  succeeded  him,  called  upon  Emperor 
Sigismond  to  assist  in  the  conflict;  and  when  Ladis- 
laus, an  important  factor  in  the  controversy,  was 
struck  down  at  the  Battle  of  Roccasecca,  Sigismund 
determined  to  put  an  end  to  the  scandal  of  the  schism. 
He  forced  John'XXIII.  to  call  together  all  the  clergy- 
men in  Christendom  at  Constance  in  1415;  but  the 
latter,  finding  that  all  the  Popes  were  about  to  be 
deposed,  fled  in  the  disguise  of  a  groom ;  and  Gregory 
XII.  also  was  glad  to  give  up  the  keys  of  St.  Peter's 
and  compromise  for  the  office  of  Cardinal,  while  Bene- 
dict XIIL,  after  being  sustained  by  Spain  for  awhile, 


78  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

was  obliged  to  retire.  The  three  rival  Popes  having 
thus  been  put  aside,  Otto  Colonna  assumed  the  title  of 
Pope  Martin  V.,  and  with  him  the  schism  was  nomi- 
nally ended.  This  was  the  Council  in  which  John  Huss 
and  Jerome  of  Prague  were  condemned  to  death  and 
burned.  Eugene  IV.  followed  Martin  V.,  and  then 
came  the  strong  Nicholas  V.,  who  took  his  place 
among  the  first  of  the  temporal  powers  of  Italy. 

When  the  sun  rose  upon  the  fifteenth  century  the 
horizon  of  Italy  was  obscured  in  clouds.  Lombardy 
was  almost  entirely  absorbed  by  the  Visconti,  Naples 
was  worn  out  with  civil  war,  and,  as  has  been  seen,  the 
Papal  power  was  at  a  minimum.  These  were  days 
of  treachery  and  crime. 

During  the  time  these  Church  quarrels  were  going 
on  Venice  held  sway  from  St.  Mark's  to  the  Adige, 
and  her  flag  floated  from  her  strongholds  in  Treviso 
to  Feltro,  and  over  Belluno,  Verona,  Vincenza  to 
Padua.  In  1378  Venice  and  Genoa  had  their  last 
serious  encounter  at  Chioggia,  where  they  fought 
fiercely  about  the  possession  of  Cyprus.  Genoa  block- 
aded this  channel  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Venice 
at  the  end  of  the  Southern  Lagoon.  The  Venetian 
fleet  was  destroyed  in  the  encounter,  and  the  republic 
was  in  great  danger.  This  was  when  the  Genoese 
leader,  Luciano  Doria,  boasted  that  he  would  bridle 
the  bronze  horses  of  St.  Mark's.  The  consternation 
became  so  overwhelming  that  Vittorio  Pisani,  who  had 
been  imprisoned  on  account  of  the  loss  of  the  fleet, 
begged  the  chance  to  save  his  ungrateful  country,  and 
was  released.  Carlo  Zeno,  in  the  Levant,  heard  of  the 
disaster,  and  coming  to  the  aid  of  Pisani,  blockaded 
the  Genoese  in  the  port  they  had  seized,  and  at  the 
end  of  six  months  forced  them  to  surrender.  The 


Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Visconti  79 

war  was  not  finished  until  the  treaty  of  Turin  in  1381. 
Venice  was  obliged  to  give  up  Dalmatia  and  Treviso 
for  the  time;  but  she  soon  became  as  powerful  as 
ever.  Genoa,  on  the  contrary,  never  regained  the  com- 
mercial prestige  then  lost,  and  in  1396  came  under  the 
power  of  Charles  VI.  of  France. 

As  far  back  as  1309  Bernabo  Visconti  had  made 
war  on  Florence,  which  was  supported  for  awhile  by 
Urban  V.  and  then  by  Gregory  XL  It  was  at  this 
time  that  Sir  John  Hawkwood,  the  condottieri  leader 
of  the  so-called  White  Company,  came  over,  at  first 
for  the  purpose  of  helping  the  Pisans.  Afterwards, 
however,  the  Florentines  made  an  alliance  with  Pisa 
and  other  Ghibelline  powers,  the  management  of  the 
war  being  given  to  eight  commissioners  called  the 
"  Eight  of  War,"  who  won  such  popularity  by  their 
able  conduct  that  they  were  derisively  called  the 
"  Eight  Saints  of  War."  Sir  John  Hawkwood,  by 
his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  whole  combination,  enabled 
them  to  successfully  carry  on  the  struggle  against  the 
Guelphs.  Long  afterwards,  in  1378,  Hawkwood  as- 
sisted Florence  when  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti  tried  to 
gain  the  ascendancy  over  her;  and  the  strife  did  not 
end  until  the  death  of  Gian  Galeazzo  in  1402.  Hawk- 
wood  is  buried  in  the  Cathedral  at  Florence. 

Silvestro  de'  Medici,  who  aimed  to  upset  the  ex- 
treme Guelph  faction  led  by  the  Albizzi  and  Soder- 
ini,  was  chosen  Gbnfaloniere  in  1378,  while  the  mod- 
erate Guelph  party  consisted  of  the  "  Eight  of  War," 
the  Ricci  and  a  large  vacillating  element  who  were 
not  satisfied  with  the  party  in  power.  Salvestro 
hunted  up  some  old  archives  which  were  hostile  to  the 
rule  of  the  nobles,  and  though  unsuccessful  in  the 
Council  of  the  Arts,  in  the  General  Council  of  the  peo- 


8o  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

pie  he  was  popular;  and  accordingly  he  was  able  to 
drive  the  governing  faction  with  their  ill-gotten  power 
to  the  wall.  What  is  called  the  "  Insurrection  of  the 
Chiompi "  ensued.  The  latter  was  a  class  of  work- 
men who  belonged  neither  to  the  fourteen  Greater  Arts 
or  Guilds  nor  to  the  seven  Lesser  Arts,  but  who  with 
the  other  unorganized  citizens  were  only  called  to- 
gether in  Parliament  at  the  tolling  of  the  great  bell. 
These  artisans  plotted  to  place  the  two  Arts  on  an 
equal  footing,  and  originated,  in  addition,  rArts  of 
their  own.  When  the  conspiracy  was  discovered  the 
people  broke  out  into  a  riot  and  placed  the  standard 
of  the  Gonfaloniere  in  the  hands  of  one  Michele  di 
Lando,  who,  barefooted,  mounted  the  stairs  of  the 
Palace  of  the  Signoria,  declaring  that  he  would  place 
the  building  and  the  whole  city  in  the  hands  of  the 
mob.  He  appointed  his  own  priors,  two  from  the 
Greater,  two  from  the  Lesser  and  two  from  the  New 
Arts  he  had  given  the  people;  and  in  spite  of  the 
Eight  of  War,  who  wanted  Lando  to  work  through 
them,  he  kept  the  artisans  quiet  until  he  went  out  of 
office.  His  successors,  however,  lacked  his  strength; 
and  accordingly,  in  1382,  the  Guelph  aristocracy  called 
for  a  "  Balia,"  which  was  afterwards  a  very  frequent 
demand,  and  consisted  of  a  committee  chosen  by  the 
people  with  full  power  to  change  the  Constitution. 
This  committee  repealed  all  the  measures  just  passed. 
In  spite  of  this  the  Lesser  Guilds  had  gained  some 
ground  and  Silvestro  de'  Medici,  the  real  leader,  had 
obtained  the  great  popularity  for  which  he  was 
aiming. 


The  Medici  81 


CHAPTER   VII 

RISE    OF    THE    MEDICI. — THE    SFORZA    FAMILY. — NICHO- 
LAS   V. — THE    AGE    OF    INVASION. — SAVONAROLA. 
1435—1494  A,D. 

THE  power  in  Florence  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Guelphs  soon  after  the  Ciompi  Insurrection,  and 
Rinaldo  Albizzi  held  the  reins  of  government.  But 
powerful  rivals  were  at  hand.  Silvestro  de'  Medici 
had  a  brother,  Giovanni,  and  from  the  latter  sprung 
the  noted  Medici  family,  commencing  with  his  son 
Cosimo.  The  foundation  of  the  future  Medici  great- 
ness was  laid  by  the  wonderful  ability  of  this  man, 
who  surrounded  himself  by  scholars,  and  gained  great 
popularity  by  spending  freely  his  immense  self-ac- 
quired fortune.  The  Albizzi,  bent  on  his  ruin,  finally 
shut  him  up  in  the  tower  of  the  grim  Palazzo  Vecchio. 
This  step  so  aroused  the  people  that,  as  in  all  extraor- 
dinary events,  the  great  bell  tolled  and  the  gates  of 
the  Palace  were  forced  open.  Then  the  Signoria  and 
Gonfaloniere  came  forth  with  the  College  of  the  Arts, 
and,  all  uniting,  demanded  a  Balia.  As  it  proved,  this 
committee  sidecl  with  the  Albizzi,  who,  trembling  for 
fear  of  Cosimo's  return  to  power,  greatly  desired  to 
slay  him.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  he  was  only 
banished;  and,  as  the  Albizzi  had  apprehended,  the 
following  year,  a  change  coming  about  in  the  city 
government,  Cosimo  came  back.  This  time  the  Balia 
decided  against  the  Albizzi,  and  they  in  turn  were 


82  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

banished,  while  Cosimo  was  raised  again  to  supreme 
power;  and  this  continued  for  more  than  a  century  in 
the  family  of  the  Medici. 

The  Albizzi  enlisted  Filippo  Maria  Visconti;  and 
the  Florentines  were  several  times  defeated  by  him, 
until  the  Venetians  came  to  their  aid,  assisted  by  Fran- 
cesco Comagnola. 

Comagnola  was  a  Piedmontese,  and  one  of  the  ablest 
military  officers  of  the  day,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  humane  of  the  condottieri  commanders.  He  had 
won  back  for  Filippo  Maria  Visconti  all  the  small  sove- 
reignites  which  had  been  lost  at  the  death  of  his 
father,  Gian  Galeazzo.  Afterwards,  however,  having 
been  accused  of  treachery  by  Filippo  Maria,  he 
went  over  to  the  Venetians,  for  whom  he  gained  im- 
portant victories.  But,  being  defeated  near  Cremona 
in  the  great  battle  at  Soncino  by  Francesco  Sforza, 
whom  at  one  time  he  had  given  his  liberty,  he  became 
disheartened  and  remained  so  inactive  that  his  loyalty 
was  questioned.  In  1432  he  was  called  to  Venice  and 
suddenly  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  was  tortured 
for  several  weeks  before  being  taken  out  and  beheaded 
between  two  columns  in  front  of  the  Doge  Palace. 
Though  instigated  by  the  Council  of  Ten,  it  was  an 
impolitic  movement,  since  Duke  Filippo  no  longer 
cared  to  make  peace  with  the  Venetians  after  his 
powerful  enemy  Comagnola  was  dead.  It  was  on  the 
ruins  of  the  latter's  career  that  Francesco  Sforza 
climbed  up  to  greatness. 

Pope  Eugenius  was  forced  by  Filippo  Maria  Vis- 
conti to  flee  from  Rome  and  take  refuge  with  Cosimo 
di  Medici  and  his  party  in  Florence.  These  were  fast 
crushing  out  Duke  Filippo  Maria,  when  the  latter  en- 
ticed Francesco  Sforza,  who  was  then  in  the  Pope's 


The  Medici  83 

employ,  to  his  side,  by  giving  him  his  daughter  Bianca 
in  marriage. 

The  father  of  Francesco  was  the  great  general 
Atondolo  Sforza.  He  was  originally  a  peasant  of 
Cotignola,  who  received  the  name  of  Sforza  from  his 
physical  strength.  When  invited  to  enlist,  he  threw 
his  ax  into  an  oak  and  cried :  "  If  it  stay  there,  it  will 
be  a  sign  that  my  fortune  is  made."  The  ax  stuck 
in  the  tree,  and  Sforza  went  forth  to  found  a  line  of 
dukes.  While  his  friend  Braccio  di  Montone  intro- 
duced the  solid  phalanx,  Sforza  still  held  to  the  old 
method  of  detached  bodies  of  cavalry.  In  1409  these 
two  great  captains  separated,  and  as  distinct  companies, 
were  known  as  the  Sforzesi  and  the  Bracconesi.  They 
carried  on  all  the  wars  of  Italy  for  the  next  twenty 
years.  Finding  that  to  defeat  each  other  was  disas- 
trous to  the  respective  causes,  they  adopted  the  plan  of 
checkmating.  At  their  deaths  in  1424  Braccio  was 
succeeded  by  Nicholas  Piccinini,  and  Sforza,  as  has 
been  seen,  by  his  son  Francesco,  these  two  in  their 
turn  being  the  chief  captains  of  Italy  and  the  ablest 
generals  of  their  day. 

Although  Francesco  Sforza  married  the  Duke  of 
Milan's  daughter,  his  father-in-law  did  not  favor  him 
greatly,  since  he  was  too  ambitious  and  interfered 
with  the  latter's  power.  Accordingly  when  Filippo 
Maria  died  in  1447,  leaving  no  legitimate  heirs  in  the 
male  line,  he  becfueathed  his  dominions  to  Alphonso 
of  Naples.  Though  one  party  upheld  Sforza  in  the 
right  of  his  wife,  the  greater  number  desired  no  duke ; 
and  Milan  was  organized  into  a  republic,  her  example 
being  followed  by  Pavia,  Como,  Alessandria  and  all 
the  cities  which  had  been  subject  to  the  Visconti.  This 
lasted  three  years,  until  Milan  was  finally  inveigled 


84  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

into  appointing  Sforza  as  commander-in-chief  against 
the  Venetians,  who  were  pushing  their  power  west- 
ward. In  one  brilliant  campaign  Sforza  drove  the 
Venetians  back,  burned  their  fleet,  and  defeated  their 
army.  Then,  although  some  of  the  citizens  said  they 
would  rather  become  subjects  even  of  Venice,  than  to 
fall  into  Sforza's  hands,  after  treacherously  making 
peace  with  that  nation,  Sforza  reduced  the  surrounding 
cities  and  forced  Milan  in  1450  to  receive  him  as  their 
duke.  His  cruel  son,  Galeazzo  Sforza,  succeeded  him 
in  1466;  and  under  the  latter  Milan  and  Genoa  suf- 
fered greatly  for  many  years. 

At  this  time  the  four  great  powers  of  Italy  were 
the  King  of  Naples,  the  Duke  of  Milan  and  the  re- 
publics of  Venice  and  Florence.  Soon  after,  another 
mighty  influence  gained  great  advantage  in  Italy.  It 
was  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope.  Had  Florence 
and  Venice  at  this  time  upheld  the  faction  in  Milan 
and  Genoa  who  desired  a  republican  government 
there  would  have  been  four  dominating  common- 
wealths to  resist  foreign  interference,  so  that  they 
might  have  maintained  the  freedom  of  one  consoli- 
dated republic.  But  Cosimo  di  Medici,  who  was  then 
just  commencing  his  despotism  in  Florence,  preferred 
to  see  a  duke  in  Milan;  and  the  Foscari  in  Venice 
thought  only  of  territorial  extension. 

The  captivity  of  Avignon,  which  had  nominally 
ended  at  the  Council  of  Constance,  had  well-nigh  ex- 
tinguished the  influence  of  the  Popes.  ^Eneas  Sylvius, 
however,  the  secretary  of  Emperor  Frederick  III., 
and  a  very  learned,  diplomatic,  and  versatile  character, 
gained  the  ascendancy  at  the  Council  of  Basle,  and 
arranged  things  so  that  Pope  Eugenius  was  enabled 
to  triumph  in  that  body.  He  also  later  secured  the 


The  Medici  85 

election  of  Nicholas  V.,  during  whose  rule  the  schism 
really  ended  in  1448. 

The  reign  of  Nicholas  V.  opened  an  era  of  temporal 
splendor,  which  is  said  to  have  ushered  in  the  Renais- 
sance; and  this  ended  with  the  establishment  of  the 
Popes  as  sovereigns  in  Rome,  a  position  they  held  up 
to  the  time  of  the  present  government.  Nicholas  V. 
had  been  tutor  in  the  house  of  the  Albizzi  while  only 
Thomas  of  Sarzana,  and  afterwards  he  was  engaged 
as  librarian  of  the  Medici  in  Florence.  Though 
humbly  born,  he  imbibed  the  culture  of  the  era  and 
became  a  distinguished  humanist.  He  was  a  peace- 
maker and  promoted  education,  and  as  Pope  he  was 
without  a  rival  in  the  Church.  After  the  advent  of 
the  Greeks  in  Italy,  before  the  taking  of  Constanti- 
nople by  the  Infidels  under  Mohammed  II.  in  1453, 
the  zeal  for  Greek  was  revived,  and  Rome  became  the 
center  of  Greek  culture.  Nicholas  V.  encouraged  art 
by  rebuilding  churches  and  palaces,  and  he  also 
strengthened  the  city  with  fortifications.  It  was  he 
who  first  conceived  the  idea  of  the  prospective  mag- 
nificence of  the  St.  Peter's  of  to-day;  and  he  re- 
fashioned the  Vatican  Palace,  collecting  manuscript 
and  archives  to  found  the  famous  Vatican  Library. 
The  invention  of  printing  in  his  time  also  helped  the 
progress  of  learning. 

In  1452,  when  Pope  Nicholas  had  crowned  Frede- 
rick III.  with  great  ceremony  at  Rome,  a  large  number 
of  republican  Romans,  displeased  at  this,  and  his 
general  assumption  of  power,  formed  a  conspiracy  to 
assassinate  the  whole  Papal  court,  plunder  the  Vatican 
and,  by  setting  up  a  government  of  their  own,  free 
the  city  from  ecclesiastical  bondage.  This  audacious 
and  bloodthirsty  plot  was  discovered,  however,  and 


86  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

thwarted,  and  this  was  the  last  attempt  of  Rome  to 
establish  a  free  government. 

In  1454  Nicholas  V.  was  the  means  of  bringing 
about  the  Peace  of  Lodi,  in  which  Venice,  Milan, 
Florence  and  Alphonso  of  Naples  united  for  the  pur- 
pose of  withstanding  the  Turks.  A  year  after,  in 
1455,  Nicholas  V.  died,  and  ^Eneas  Sylvius  was  chosen 
Pope  with  the  title  of  Pius  II.  In  1464  he  also  died 
while  preaching  a  denunciatory  sermon  against  the 
Turks.  In  1477  a  large  Turkish  army,  after  desolating 
the  coast  of  Italy  as  far  as  the  Piav,  defeated  the 
Venetians,  their  proceedings  being  watched  from  the 
Campanile  of  St.  Mark's.  The  Turks  also  took  pos- 
session of  the  Black  Sea,  depriving  Genoa  of  all  her 
possessions  and  influence  there.  The  depredations  of 
the  Turks  at  this  time  were  only  stopped  by  the  death 
of  Mohammed  II. 

The  rise  of  the  House  of  Medici  in  Florence  is 
one  of  the  most  absorbing  events  in  Italian  history. 
Cosimo  di  Medici,  after  his  return  in  September, 
1434,  from  banishment  in  Venice,  executed  his  power 
with  remarkable  wisdom  and  tact.  He  adorned  Flor- 
ence with  the  finest  architecture  and  founded  the  Pitti 
and  Uffizi  galleries,  which  still  attract  millions  of  peo- 
ple from  all  lands.  Under  his  supervision  the  dome  of 
the  Cathedral  was  built  by  Brunelleschi,  and  Masaccio 
painted  and  embellished  churches  and  chapels,  after- 
wards models  for  Michelangelo  and  other  great  art- 
ists. Cosimo  encouraged  literature  in  every  possible 
manner,  keeping  many  scholars  busy  collecting  manu- 
script to  adorn  the  Medici  library.  From  this  era,  for 
three  centuries,  the  history  of  Florence  is  connected 
with  the  House  of  Medici. 

Neri  Capponi  was  another  great  statesman.    It  was 


The  Medici  87 

said  of  the  two  men,  if  Cosimo  was  the  wealthiest, 
Neri  was  the  wisest.  These  autocrats,  when  afraid  of 
any  opposition,  called  a  Parliament  and  had  a  Balia 
appointed  for  five  years;  and  thus  they  were  able  to 
secure  the  election  of  their  own  party,  as  in  the  case 
mentioned  against  the  Albizzi. 

The  splendor  and  refinement  of  Cosimo  Medici's 
taste  enriched  the  State ;  and,  though  his  rule  abridged 
the  liberties  of  Florence,  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
city  was  sustained.  His  death  in  1464  left  only  one 
son,  Pietro,  who  did  nothing  except  burden  the  Italian 
people  with  his  debts.  He  quarreled  with  Luca  Pitti, 
a  most  formidable  enemy,  and  soon  died  from  his 
dissipations  in  1469,  leaving  two  sons,  Lorenzo  and 
Giuliano. 

The  Medici  were  not,  at  this  period,  absolute  des- 
pots like  the  Visconti ;  but  they  were  no  longer  simply 
a  great  family,  as  they  had  been  in  the  time  of  Silves- 
tro.  Although  they  used  their  power  for  the  good  of 
the  city,  they  did  it  by  drawing  from  the  public  treas- 
ury in  the  interest  of  their  own  house.  The  Popes  of 
this  epoch  were  striving  for  dominion,  not  in  order  to 
enlarge  the  Holy  See,  but  for  the  purpose  of  making 
their  sons  and  nephews  Italian  princes.  Sixtus  IV. 
therefore  entertained  a  violent  hatred  for  the  Medici, 
since  Lorenzo  was  opposing  his  attempt  to  establish 
his  nephew  in  Romagna ;  and,  in  sympathy  with  the  old 
Greek  and  Roman  ethics,  he  felt  that  nothing  was  a 
crime  which  would  rid  the  State  of  tyrants. 

Accordingly  Sixtus  IV.  concocted  a  scheme  of  assas- 
sination which  was  so  gigantic  and  far-reaching  that 
it  involved  at  least  one  hundred  persons,  among  them 
Sixtus'  nephew  and  grandnephew,  the  Riario,  Fran- 
cesco Salviati  and  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa,  while  even 


88  Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  odious  King  Ferdinand  of  Naples  is  said  to  have 
abetted  the  scheme.  The  conspiracy  was  called  after 
the  Pazzi  family,  who  were  the  foremost  in  the  plot. 
They  instigated  it  because,  though  among  the  richest 
and  noblest  of  Florence,  they  had  been  kept  out  of 
office  by  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  and  excluded  from  the 
right  of  succession  to  the  Borrommeo  property.  This 
was  according  to  Lorenzo's  policy,  which  was  to  put 
down  the  wealthy  and  rais:  up  people  of  no  conse- 
quence, over  whom  his  influence  would  be  paramount. 
During  a  Church  celebration  in  Florence  the  two 
brothers  Giuliano  and  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  were  invited 
to  a  feast  to  be  given  by  Jacopo  de'  Pazzi  on  Sunday, 
April  26,  1478.  But  the  conspirators  found  out  that 
for  some  reason  or  other  Giuliano  would  not  be  at  the 
banquet,  and  not  daring  to  postpone  the  assassination, 
the  date  of  which  was  known  to  so  many,  they  decided 
to  commit  the  deed  at  once  at  service  in  the  Cathedral. 
Francesco  de'  Pazzi  and  Bernardo  Bandini  were  the 
ecclesiastics  chosen  to  kill  Giuliano,  and  it  was  ar- 
ranged that  Giovanni  Battista  was  to  murder  Lorenzo ; 
but  he  hesitated  to  commit  the  sacrilege  of  slaying  his 
friend  in  church.  Accordingly  two  priests,  Antonio 
and  Stephano,  who  comprehended  sacred  things  better, 
undertook  the  task.  After  reaching  the  church,  and 
finding  that  Giuliano  was  not  there,  Pazzi  and  Bandini 
went  to  his  house,  and  in  a  playful  manner  accom- 
panied him  to  the  service,  at  the  same  time  ascer- 
taining that  he  was  unarmed.  An  immense  crowd 
enabled  the  assassins  to  get  behind  their  intended 
victim  without  attracting  attention;  and  as  the  little 
bell  sounded  when  the  Host  was  lifted  up,  and  all 
were  kneeling  in  the  presence  of  God,  Bernardo 
stabbed  Giuliano  to  the  heart,  and  Francesco  di 


The  Medici  89 

Pazzi  pierced  him  many  times  with  a  dagger.  Antonio 
and  Stephano  only  succeeded  in  slightly  wounding 
Lorenzo,  and  were  afterwards  found  in  hiding,  and 
slain. 

Francesco  de'  Pazzi  having  been  disabled,  the  aged 
Jacopo,  who  had  prepared  the  feast,  gathered  a  few 
followers  before  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  crying  out: 
"  Liberty  and  the  People."  The  people,  however, 
were  too  hoodwinked  by  the  wiles  of  the  Medici  to 
comprehend  that  their  freedom  had  already  been  taken 
away,  and  they  immediately  arose  against  the  con- 
spirators, instantaneously  cutting  down  more  than 
seventy  in  the  street.  They  hung  the  Archbishop  of 
Saviati  in  his  priestly  robes  outside  his  own  window, 
and  placed  Francesco  de'  Pazzi  by  his  side  on  the  gal- 
lows. Two  hundred  more  were  put  to  death  indis- 
criminately. All  this  was  done  at  the  instigation  of 
Lorenzo,  and  has  come  down  in  history  as  the  "  Pazzi 
Massacre,"  just  as  the  conspiracy  is  called  "  The  Pazzi 
Conspiracy." 

Lorenzo  de'  Medici  was  conveyed  in  safety  to  his 
palace,  and  a  special  police  force  was  posted  in  his 
grounds.  His  power  was  now  strengthened  by  the 
sympathy  of  the  citizens,  and  from  this  time  he  as- 
sumed a  more  sumptuous  style  than  ever.  He  called 
round  him  a  crowd  of  literary  men,  whom  he  main- 
tained, and  who  sustained  him  in  his  pride.  The  title 
"  Magnificent,"  which  familiarizes  us  with  him,  does 
no  more  than  justice  to  his  character,  and  although 
this  magnificence  was  entirely  egoistical  and  sup- 
ported at  the  public  expense,  he  made  the  people  feel 
prosperous,  and  they  were  contented.  No  longer  dis- 
guising his  part  in  the  plot  to  assassinate  Lorenzo, 
Sixtus  excommunicated  the  whole  duchy  of  Florence 


go  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

which  in  turn  appealed  to  the  rest  of  Italy  for  support 
in  a  general  council  of  the  Tuscan  clergy. 

Ludovico  Sforza,  son  of  Francesco  Sforza,  and  the 
cruel  Galeazzo's  brother,  had  been  banished  from 
Milan  by  the  latter's  widow,  Bona  of  Savoy,  sister-in- 
law  of  Louis  XL,  because  he  had  tried  to  wrest  the 
power  from  her.  Now,  however,  he  returned  to  Milan 
and  usurped  the  duchy  in  place  of  his  nephew,  a  boy 
of  twelve  years,  the  son  of  Bona  of  Savoy.  He  then 
united  with  Louis  XL  in  an  alliance  with  Lorenzo. 
Sixtus  IV.  also  was  obliged  to  come  to  terms  with  all 
parties  in  1480,  when  he  saw  that  the  Turks  were 
threatening  Rome.  But  he  made  one  more  attempt 
against  the  general  peace  by  trying  to  get  Ferrara  for 
his  nephew,  Cardinal  Riario.  The  Pope's  captain  in 
these  great  wars  was  Fedrigo,  Duke  of  Urbino,  a  man 
distinguished  not  only  for  his  skill  in  warfare,  but  for 
his  culture,  justice  and  uprightness  of  life. 

Sixtus  IV.,  chagrined  at  the  failure  of  all  his  plans, 
died  in  the  year  1484.  It  was  he  who  built  the  won- 
derful Sistine  Chapel  and  named  it  after  himself.  The 
constructing  of  the  Vatican  was  begun  in  the  early 
part  of  the  Christian  era,  and  had  continued  up  to  the 
time  of  Charlemagne,  who  is  said  at  one  time  to  have 
resided  in  one  of  the  courts  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Peter's.  The  Popes  from  the  time  of  Eugenius  IV.  had 
again  taken  up  this  work  of  culture  and  splendid 
architecture,  which  they  continued  for  several  cen- 
turies. 

Innocent  VIII.,  the  successor  of  Sixtus  IV.,  was 
elected  by  the  influence  of  Ferdinand  of  Naples,  and 
though  they  soon  quarreled,  Lorenzo  di  Medici  finally 
brought  about  a  reconciliation  between  them  after 
he  himself  had  pacified  the  Pope  by  marrying  his 


SAVONAROLA. 


The  Medici  91 

own  daughter  to  one  of  the  Pope's  natural  sons. 
Through  this  union  he  raised  the  Medici  family  to  the 
highest  position  of  ecclesiastical  grandeur,  since  His 
Holiness  now  named  Giovanni,  the  son  of  Lorenzo, 
then  but  thirteen  years  old,  Cardinal;  and  this  boy, 
afterwards  Leo  X.,  was  the  most  renowned  pontiff  of 
the  Vatican. 

In  spite  of  the  many  internal  dissensions,  the  period 
between  1480  and  1492  was  a  time  of  general  pros- 
perity in  Italy ;  for  the  three  leading  men  in  the  nation, 
King  Ferdinand,  Ludovico  Sforza  and  Lorenzo  di 
Medici,  were  anxious  to  be  in  harmony,  desiring  to 
work  together  in  order  to  check  the  growth  of  Venice 
and  to  profit  by  the  periodical  embroilments  of  the  other 
powers. 

During  this  epoch  a  great  deal  of  land  was  brought 
under  cultivation,  manufactures  flourished,  and  the 
Country  grew  populous  and  increased  in  wealth.  The 
Italian  peasantry  were  better  housed,  clothed  and  fed 
than  men  of  the  same  rank  in  other  countries  and  a 
sense  of  security  pervaded  the  land.  Although  Italian 
art  and  literature  were  also  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition at  this  era,  the  luxury  and  tyranny  engendered 
by  the  Medici  had  enervated  the  people  and  lessened 
their  virtues  and  self-respect. 

One  Dominican  monk,  Girolamo  Savonarola,  fought 
against  this  influence.  He  began  to  preach  in  1489, 
and  so  great  w'as  the  desire  to  hear  him  that  women 
and  children  would  rise  in  the  night  to  gain  their 
places.  They  came  with  the  same  rejoicing  to  listen  to 
his  sermons  with  which  they  would  go  forth  to  a 
wedding  or  to  a  play,  making  no  account  of  standing 
on  cold  marble  pavements  in  the  chill  of  winter. 
Savonarola  thundered  in  awful  tones  against  the  vices 


92  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  society  and  the  sins  of  the  people,  and  foretold  the 
terrible  punishment  which  awaited  such  a  course  of 
life.  The  Florentines  were  held  spellbound  by  the 
simple  eloquence  of  a  preacher  who  scorned  all  "  tra- 
dition of  oratory,  and  literary  style  "  and  swept  every- 
thing before  him  by  his  earnestness  and  warmth  of 
feeling.  In  looking  upon  his  glowing  countenance, 
the  imagination  of  all  was  kindled.  Some  believed 
that  they  saw  an  angel  on  either  side  of  him  as  he 
preached;  and  others  thought  the  Madonna  herself 
stood  above  him  in  glory,  blessing  him  with  uplifted 
hands  while  he  pronounced  a  benediction  on  the  mul- 
titude. 

The  "  Magnifico  "  feared  Savonarola's  influence,  yet 
was  attracted  by  him,  and  sought  him  out  at  the  monas- 
tery of  St.  Mark's;  but  he  could  not  gain  his  confi- 
dence, for  Savonarola  felt  that  any  degree  of  sym- 
pathy with  this  luxurious  though  affable  tyrant  would 
fetter  him  in  his  mission  of  helping  the  people. 

Savonarola  was  of  a  fervid  temperament,  believed 
in  special  revelations,  and  dreamed  dreams.  He  gained 
an  especial  power  over  the  people  by  his  ability  to 
foretell  the  leading  events  of  the  times — the  advent  of 
the  French  King,  the  fall  of  the  Medici,  the  reign 
of  Clement  VII.  and  like  great  disasters. 

Lorenzo  de'  Medici  died  in  1492.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  men  handed  down  in  history ;  and, 
in  spite  of  a  few  rash  acts  of  cruelty,  the  moral 
beauty  of  his  character  and  his  ennobling  taste  would 
seem  lofty  even  in  the  most  advanced  epochs  of  a  pure 
and  unsullied  state  of  society.  It  was  through  the 
patronage  extended  by  him  to  all  scholars  and  artists 
that  the  way  was  prepared  for  that  most  brilliant 
epoch  in  Italian  history  which  came  about  in  the  sue- 


The  Medici  93 

cession  of  his  son,  and  was  called  the  "  Golden  Age 
of  Leo  X." 

Just  before  Lorenzo  died  his  fascination  for  Savon- 
arola revived,  and  he  summoned  him  from  St.  Mark's 
to  hear  his  last  confession,  because  he  knew  that  the 
great  divine  would  not  fear  to  tell  him  the  truth.  The 
illustrious  preacher  refused  to  come,  saying :  "  We 
could  not  agree  " ;  but  Lorenzo  sent  back  the  messen- 
ger with  a  promise  to  accede  to  everything. 

The  prior  was  led  to  the  luxurious  chamber  where 
Lorenzo  lay  dying  in  the  prime  of  his  days,  surrounded 
by  all  that  he  loved,  yet  hopeless  and  helpless,  and  tor- 
mented by  the  memory  of  the  wrongs  which  he  had 
committed.  He  confided  to  his  confessor  that  there 
were  three  things  which  troubled  his  soul — the  atro- 
cious Sack  of  the  Volterra,  the  Murder  of  the  Orphans 
and  the  Massacre  of  the  Pazzi.  Savonarola  told  the 
penitent  that,  first,  he  must  have  a  living  faith  that 
God  would  pardon  him ;  and  Lorenzo  told  him  that  he 
could  have  that  faith.  Secondly:  he  must  restore 
everything  wrongfully  acquired  so  far  as  lay  in  his 
power,  only  leaving  to  his  children  as  much  as  would 
maintain  them  as  private  citizens.  Lorenzo  was  mad- 
dened at  this  thought,  but  finally  he  said  he  would 
also  do  this.  In  addition  to  all  the  rest,  the  faithful 
friar  told  him  that  he  must  restore  freedom  and  a 
popular  republican  government  to  Florence.  Then 
the  great  Magnificent  turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and 
said  not  another  word ;  upon  which  the  prior  went 
away  without  granting  him  absolution. 

Savonarola  afterwards  said  that  he  grieved  greatly 
because  he  had  not  allowed  himself  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  Lorenzo  sooner;  for  he  believed  that 
through  the  grace  of  God  the  distinguished  ruler  then 


94  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

might  have  found  salvation,  "  since  he  had  never  be- 
fore known  a  man  so  well  endowed  with  all  the  natural 
graces."  Lorenzo  died  at  forty-four  in  the  splendor  of 
his  prosperity ;  and  Florence,  where  to-day  one  cannot 
look  in  any  direction  without  gazing  upon  the  work 
of  some  man's  genius,  is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Medici  in  its  churches,  galleries,  streets  and  squares, 
as  well  as  in  the  beautiful  Medici  Chapel  erected  as  a 
monument  to  the  family  name.  Lorenzo  left  three 
sons,  Pietro  who  succeeded  him,  Giovanni  (Leo  X.) 
and  Giuliano. 

Innocent  VIII.  died  nearly  at  the  same  time  as 
Lorenzo,  just  as  the  "  anarchy  of  the  Feudal  Ages  was 
giving  place  to  the  renown  of  the  Renaissance."  But 
for  Italy  the  Age  of  Invasion  followed,  and  England, 
France,  Spain  and  Austria  for  many  years  "  menaced 
this  disunited  State  by  the  consolidation  of  their 
gigantic  power." 

The  year  after  Innocent  VIII.  died,  Rodrigo  Borgia 
had  gained  by  bribery  his  election  as  Pope  under 
the  name  of  Alexander  VI.  He  used  his  power 
almost  entirely  to  forward  ambitious  schemes  in  behalf 
of  his  children,  Caesar  and  Lucretia.  These  two  ex- 
ceeded their  father  in  the  insolence  of  their  vices,  their 
falseness  and  cruelty,  so  that  the  name  of  Borgia  has 
been  handed  down  as  a  synonym  of  vice. 


Age  of  Invasion  95 


CHAPTER   VIII 

AGE  OF  INVASION. COMING  OF  CHARLES  VIII. SPANISH 

POSSESSION  OF  NAPLES. THE    EXPULSION    OF    LUDO- 

vico    SFORZA. — SAVONAROLA'S     DEATH. — PEACE     OF 

CAMBREY. ART  AND  LITERATURE. 

1494—1553  A.D. 

FOR  several  years  after  the  death  of  Lorenzo, 
Savonarola  was  the  real  ruler  of  Florence,  and  at 
the  time  of  the  French  invasion  determined  the  politics 
of  the  city,  and  with  the  aid  of  Piero  Capponi  guided 
the  State  through  the  critical  period.  He  relieved  the 
starving  populace  within  the  walls,  opened  shops  for 
the  unemployed,  reduced  the  taxes,  and  administered 
justice  in  every  possible  way,  at  the  same  time  exhort- 
ing all  men  to  put  their  trust  in  God.  The  laws  and 
edicts  of  this  period  are  said  to  read  like  paraphrases 
of  Savonarola's  sermons.  He  warded  off  a  revolution, 
not  only  by  keeping  the  people  quiet,  but  by  frighten- 
ing the  King  of  France  with  prophecies,  so  that  the 
latter  left  the  city  free  from  his  depredations.  The 
Great  Council  which  followed,  giving  the  people  their 
rights,  was  also  the  work  of  Savonarola.  After  the 
fall  of  the  Medici  the  Florentines,  influenced  by  Savon- 
arola's teachings,  abjured  their  vanities  and  follies, 
leading  a  life  of  humility  and  repentance.  Hymns  and 
psalms  rang  in  the  streets,  in  place  of  loud  songs  which 
had  so  recently  been  heard,  while  men  and  women 
dressed  with  Puritan  simplicity;  and  husbands  and 
wives  even  quitted  their  homes  for  life  in  convents; 
for  Savonarola's  reign  is  said  to  have  been  a  "  kind  of 


96  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

heavenly  despotism,"  short,  but  far-reaching  in  its 
influence.  Although  he  preached  eight  years,  from 
the  year  1489,  without  interruption,  his  real  rule  over 
Florence  commenced  in  1491,  and  he  reached  the 
climax  of  his  greatness  in  1495. 

It  was  in  1492,  after  Alexander  VI.  was  Pope,  that, 
during  the  delivery  of  one  of  his  forcible  sermons,  he 
heard  supernatural  voices  portending  the  wrath  of 
God,  and  he  saw  the  celebrated  vision  recorded  on 
contemporary  medals  and  engravings  symbolizing  his 
doctrine.  In  it  a  hand  appeared  bearing  a  flaming 
sword  and  voices  were  heard  proclaiming  mercy  to 
the  faithful,  and  vengeance  to  the  guilty.  Then  the 
sword  bent  towards  the  earth,  and  the  sky  darkened, 
thunder  pealed  and  lightning  flashed  and  the  world 
was  visited  by  famine,  bloodshed  and  pestilence.  It 
was  the  disturbance  his  sermons  caused  which  influ- 
enced Pietro  di  Medici  to  have  him  removed  from 
Florence;  and  it  was  while  he  was  preaching  in 
Bologna  that  the  rebuke  to  the  wife  of  Bentivoglio,  the 
ruler  there,  for  interrupting  divine  service  by  her 
noisy  entrance,  came  near  costing  him  his  life.  Assas- 
sins were  sent  to  kill  him  in  his  cell;  but,  awed  by 
Savonarola's  words,  they  fled  in  terror  from  the  con- 
vent. At  the  close  of  his  last  sermon  in  Bologna  he 
fearlessly  announced  the  day  and  hour  of  his  departure ; 
and  then  he  started  out  barefoot  on  his  lonely  journey 
over  the  Apennines. 

After  a  time,  when  the  Florentines  no  longer  feared 
Charles  VIII.  and  were  free  from  the  shadow  of  the 
Pisan  War,  the  people  began  to  long  for  their  old 
gayeties,  and  heeded  less  and  less  the  great  prior's 
teachings.  In  1495  a  Papal  brief  summoned  Savon- 
arola to  Rome,  and  in  September  another,  and  then  a 


Age  of  Invasion  97 

third.  Just  after  he  preached  one  of  his  most  exciting 
sermons,  Alexander  VI.  united  St.  Mark's  to  another 
division  of  the  Dominican  order,  and  thus  abridged 
Savonarola's  influence,  which  had  been  supreme  over 
the  monasteries.  As  early  as  1497  the  Arrabbiati  and 
the  Medici  party  united,  and  on  Ascension  Day  Savon- 
arola was  insulted  and  a  Bull  of  Excommunication  was 
hurled  against  him.  That  same  year  he  was  forbidden 
to  preach  in  his  own  convent,  and  again  summoned  to 
Rome,  his  touching  farewell  sermon  being  delivered 
in  1498. 

Although  Alexander  was  determined  that  Savon- 
arola should  meet  his  death  in  Rome,  the  Signoria 
insisted  that  he  should  die  in  the  presence  of  the 
Florentines.  A  trap  was  laid  for  him  and  a  challenge 
given  by  Francesco  di  Pagano  to  prove  the  truth  of 
his  doctrine  by  the  celebrated  "  Ordeal  of  Fire." 
Everything  was  ready  for  the  experiment,  and  Savon- 
arola is  said  to  have  been  almost  assured  of  his 
triumph  in  the  issue ;  but  there  was  delay  and  the  au- 
thorities finally  put  a  stop  to  the  proceedings.  His 
enemies  after  this  pushed  their  advantage,  and,  having 
imprisoned  him,  tortured  him  for  three  successive 
days.  As  a  result  of  his  ascetic  life  he  was  too  weak 
physically  to  endure  the  torment,  and  in  his  delirium 
he  would  promise  to  recant,  saying  and  doing  things 
based  on  whi^h  the  records  were  falsified,  and  state- 
ments and  signatures  forged ;  but  when  unbound  he 
would  reassert  his  views,  crying  out :  "  My  God,  I 
denied  thee  for  fear  of  pain."  This  vacillating  course 
gave  the  Florentine  Signoria  a  chance  to  claim  that 
he  who  had  swayed  Florence  for  years  was  not  only  a 
false  prophet,  but  had  used  his  unusual  abilities  for 
his  own  advancement  and  vainglory. 


98  Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

On  May  22,  1498,  final  sentence  was  passed.  That 
night,  as  Savonarola  lay  asleep  in  his  cell,  his  head 
resting  on  the  shoulder  of  his  confessor,  the  guard 
noticed  a  smile  playing  over  his  wan  features,  and 
asked  what  it  was  that  he  saw.  Waking  a  little,  Sav- 
onarola replied :  "  I  hear  the  sound  of  falling  chains." 
This  was  no  doubt  a  vision,  which  came  to  him  in  his 
dreams,  of  the  disenthrallment  of  future  ages  from  the 
shackles  of  ecclesiastical  error  and  bigotry,  of  which 
his  martyrdom  was  the  beginning. 

The  next  morning,  the  23d  of  May,  the  execution 
took  place,  in  which  Savonarola  and  his  companions 
were  first  hanged  and  then  burned.  When  the  bishop 
read  the  formula,  "  I  separate  you  from  the  Church 
Militant  and  the  Church  Triumphant,"  Savonarola 
cried :  "  Not  from  the  Church  Triumphant,  that  is  be- 
yond thy  power !  "  Then  he  was  suspended  on  the 
center  beam  of  the  cross,  erected  on  the  spot  where 
the  great  fountain  near  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  now 
gushes  forth,  and  the  pile  was  fired.  At  dusk  the  re- 
mains of  Savonarola  and  his  two  fellow-victims  were 
thrown  into  the  Arno. 

During  the  year  and  a  half  after  the  death  of  Lo- 
renzo di  Medici  his  eldest  son  Pietro  held  a  tottering 
sway  in  Florence.  Meanwhile  Ludovico  Sforza,  Duke 
of  Milan,  became  anxious  lest  Alphonso,  son  of  Fer- 
dinand I.  of  Naples,  should  take  up  the  cause  of  his 
nephew,  Gian  Galeazzo  Sforza,  Alphonso's  son-in-law, 
whose  power  Ludovico,  as  has  been  seen,  had  wrested 
from  him  when  he  returned  from  exile.  Ludovico, 
therefore,  having  made  an  alliance  with  the  Pope 
and  Venetians  for  mutual  support,  sought  in  vain  to 
form,  in  addition,  an  Italian  confederation  composed 
of  Florence,  Rome  and  the  Duke  of  Ferrara.  Accord- 


'Age  of  Invasion  99 

ingly,  as  a  final  resort,  Ludovico  invited  Charles  VIII. 
of  France  to  invade  Italy  and  take  Naples. 

King  Ferdinand,  when  he  heard  that  the  French  were 
coming,  tried  to  make  terms  with  Sforza,  who,  not 
wishing  to  come  to  an  open  quarrel,  on  account  of 
the  revolts  in  his  duchy,  put  him  off  until  he  was 
sure  of  the  French  king.  But  Ferdinand  died,  and  his 
son  Alphonso,  who  succeeded  him,  was  more  obnox- 
ious to  everybody  than  his  father  had  been. 

The  coming  of  the  French  into  Italy  was  the  begin- 
ning of  an  era  of  foreign  invasion  and  despotism. 
Charles  VIII.  marched  through  Savoy,  Piedmont  and 
Tuscany,  and  entered  Florence  on  one  of  the  days 
when  Savonarola  was  delivering  his  most  powerful 
sermon  in  the  Cathedral.  He  halted  here  because  he 
could  not  advance  further  until  he  had  made  sure  of 
the  action  of  that  city.  The  people  were  most  anxious 
to  get  rid  of  Pietro  de'  Medici,  Piero  Capponi  saying 
that  "  it  was  time  to  put  an  end  to  this  baby  govern- 
ment." In  view  of  this,  the  authorities  were  inclined 
to  treat  the  king  well,  housing  him  and  his  suite  for 
eleven  days  in  the  deserted  palace  of  the  Medici,  from 
which  the  family  had  fled  at  his  approach. 

Pietro  had  at  first  tried  to  propitiate  Charles  VIII., 
going  out  to  meet  him,  surrendering  Sarzana,  and 
promising  to  give  up  Pisa,  Leghorn  and  other  places, 
and  to  advance  the  king  a  large  sum  of  money.  His 
overtures,  however,  being  disregarded,  he  attempted  to 
make  himself  master  of  the  town,  and  assembled  his 
guard  before  the  Palazzo  Vecchio;  but  the  city  had 
strong  forces  hidden,  and  as  the  great  bell  tolled  the 
soldiers  poured  forth  as  if  from  the  ground,  and  the 
people  gathered  from  their  shops  and  stalls  crying: 
"  Popolo !  Liberta !  "  It  was  then  that  Pietro  fled 


ioo         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

through  the  gates  never  to  return.  Pisa,  that  for 
almost  a  century  had  been  in  subjection  to  Florence, 
now  entreated  the  French  to  gain  back  liberty  for  her ; 
and  Charles  took  their  part.  Notwithstanding  this, 
however,  the  Florentines,  then  completely  under  the 
sway  of  Savonarola,  who  tolerated  Charles  VIII.'s 
coming  as  a  part  of  God's  beneficent  providence  to 
rid  Florence  of  the  Medici,  still  maintained  their  loy- 
alty to  the  French  king. 

Charles  VIII.  for  a  whik  kept  the  Florentines  down 
by  threatening  to  bring  back  the  Medici ;  but  one  day 
he  laid  so  grievous  a  list  of  propositions  before  the 
commissioners  that  Piero  Capponi,  enraged,  snatched 
the  paper  from  the  scribes  and  tore  it  in  fragments 
before  the  king's  face,  saying :  "  Sound  your  trum- 
pet and  we  will  ring  our  bells."  This,  together  with 
Savonarola's  prophecies  against  him,  frightened  the 
king,  since  he  knew  that  at  the  sound  of  the  common 
bell  so  large  a  number  of  soldiers  would  present  them- 
selves that  his  men-at-arms  would  be  powerless. 
Accordingly  he  accepted  their  terms,  promising  to 
restore  Pisa  and  the  other  places  which  Pietro  di 
Medici  had  given  up.  But  the  last  he  never  did. 

Charles  VIII.'s  father,  Louis  XL,  had  kept  aloof 
from  Italian  affairs  and  had  given  up  his  right  to 
Genoa  to  Francesco  Sforza ;  but  Charles  VIII.  himself, 
as  the  representative  of  the  Angevin  House  in  the 
descent  of  King  Rene  of  Anjou,  claimed  Naples;  and 
though  his  cousin,  the  young  wife  of  the  down- 
trodden Galeazzo  Sforza,  had  entreated  him  in  behalf 
of  her  father,  King  Alfonso  of  Naples,  Charles  in- 
tended to  appropriate  the  kingdom,  and  afterwards  to 
cross  over  and  drive  the  Turks  before  him.  He  would 
then  retake  Jerusalem  from  the  Infidels  and  win  back 


Age  of  Invasion  101 

the  Holy  Sepulchre.  He  had  induced  Venice,  as  well 
as  Ludovico  Sforza,  the  usurping  Duke  of  Milan,  to 
help  him,  and  as  he  approached  Rome  with  a  gorgeous 
pageantry  of  sixty  thousand  gayly  equipped  cavalry 
Alexander  VI.  threw  open  the  gates  of  the  Eternal 
City.  His  stay  there,  however,  was  for  the  most  part 
perfunctory,  notwithstanding  that  he  forced  Alexander 
VI.  to  agree  to  all  his  terms. 

The  Italians  looked  with  horror  at  the  method  of 
the  invaders,  since  the  French,  from  the  time  of  the 
discovery  of  gunpowder,  had  guns  made  of  brass, 
called  cannon,  which  threw  pointed  iron  balls,  and 
could  be  fired  at  long  range.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
themselves  still  used  great  guns,  with  stone  balls,  which 
had  to  be  drawn  by  oxen  and  were  so  heavy  that  they 
could  be  used  with  profit  only  in  sieges. 

King  Alfonso  left  the  kingdom  and  fled  to  Sicily 
when  he  heard  that  the  French  were  really  coming; 
and  his  son  Ferdinand  II.,  being  betrayed  by  his 
general-in-chief,  was  forced  to  seek  refuge  in  the 
Island  of  Ischia. 

Although  Charles  VIII.  was  welcomed  by  the  people 
of  Sicily,  he  had  made  many  enemies.  In  the  first 
place  he  had  failed  to  conciliate  the  Duke  of  Milan; 
and  he  had  offended  the  Florentines  because  he  favored 
the  Pisans.  The  Venetians  would  not  uphold  a  power 
which  seemed  likely  to  gain  the  ascendency  over  them ; 
and  the  Pope  was  dissatisfied  because  French  rule 
interfered  with  his  plans  for  increasing  the  influence 
of  his  house.  Charles  also  angered  the  Orsini  by 
favoring  the  Colonna ;  while  Maximilian,  King  of  the 
Romans,  was  jealous  because  French  rule  was  work- 
ing in  such  a  way  as  might  finally  snatch  from  him 
his  Emperor's  crown.  Thus  it  seems  that  everybody 


102         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

was  in  a  hurry  to  get  Charles  out  of  Italy,  and  Ludo- 
vico  Sforza  more  than  anyone  else,  though  he  had  been 
the  most  influential  in  aiding  him  in  the  invasion  of 
the  peninsula.  Ludovico  now  proceeded  to  make  an 
alliance  against  the  French  with  the  Pope,  Maximilian, 
Ferdinand  II.  and  the  Venetians. 

Seeing  that  this  combination  was  going  to  be  too 
strong  for  them,  the  French  army,  which  had  already 
settled  down  to  a  life  of  voluptuous  enjoyment,  took 
a  speedy  flight,  marching  out  of  Naples  in  May,  1495. 
Charles'  greatly  reduced  numbers,  after  passing  the 
defiles  of  the  Apennines,  met  a  large  army  composed 
of  troops  from  Venice  and  Milan  under  Francesco  di 
Gonzaga  in  the  plains  of  Lombardy.  Charles  VIII. 
was  victorious,  but  he  felt  that  it  would  not  be  prudent 
to  remain  in  Italy,  and  accordingly  pressed  forward  to 
Turin  and  returned  to  France.  Ferdinand  II.,  assisted 
by  the  Spanish,  the  Pope,  the  Venetians  and  the  Duke 
of  Milan,  re-entered  Naples  and  regained  nearly  all 
he  had  lost ;  but  in  less  than  a  year  he  died  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  uncle,  Frederick. 

The  Pisans,  having  been  abandoned  by  Charles,  were 
obliged  to  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the 
Venetians,  who  helped  them  to  carry  on  war  with 
Florence.  In  order  to  deliver  that  city  from  the  in- 
fluence of  the  French,  Ludovico  Sforza  tried  to  get 
Pietro  di  Medici  back  to  Florence ;  but  the  govern- 
ment hindered  Pietro  from  entering  the  city.  The 
followers  of  Savonarola,  who  were  called  "  Piagnoni," 
or  "  Weepers,"  because  his  preaching  had  brought 
them  to  repentance,  clung  to  the  old  popular  govern- 
ment, and  still  favored  the  French  Alliance.  The 
"Arabbiati,"  or  the  "Angry,"  were  the  members  of 
the  oligarchy  who  had  turned  out  the  Medici;  and 


Age  of  Invasion  103 

there  was  a  third  party,  who  in  secret  favored  the 
Medici,  the  "  Bigi,"  the  "  grey  or  shady." 

This  was  the  time  of  Savonarola's  greatest  popular- 
ity and  his  influence  was  paramount.  Under  his  super- 
vision troops  of  white-robed  children  had  gone  beg- 
ging through  the  streets,  bearing  crosses,  and  taking 
with  them  to  be  burned  all  articles  of  luxury,  call- 
ing upon  them  an  anathema,  or  curse.  Some  of  the 
most  excitable  of  Savonarola's  followers  then  lost  his 
cause  by  giving  themselves  up  to  the  wildest  religious 
excitement.  They  sang  and  danced  in  the  streets  and 
shouted  "  Viva  Cristo,"  demanding  that  Christ  should 
be  proclaimed  King  of  Florence. 

A  low  doorpost  is  seen  at  Loches  where  Charles 
VIII.  struck  his  head  accidentally  and  died  April,  1498. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Louis  XII.,  formerly  Duke  of 
Orleans,  who  was  heir  in  the  descent  through  his 
grandmother,  Valentina,  daughter  of  Gian  Galeazzo 
Visconti.  Alexander  VI.  favored  his  plans  because 
he  thought  his  son,  Cesare  Borgia,  would  gain  by  this 
means.  The  latter  was  already  an  archbishop  and 
cardinal,  but  the  king  added  the  city  of  Valence  in 
Dauphiny,  with  the  title  of  Duke  of  Valentinois. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Florentines,  the  Duke 
of  Ferrara  and  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  all  having 
united  against  him,  the  Duke  of  Milan,  Ludovico 
Sforza,  was  now  left  without  support ;  and  the  forces 
of  Louis  XII.  took  possession  of  the  duchy  in  1499, 
while  the  duke,  deserted  even  by  his  people  on  account 
of  his  oppression,  was  finally  betrayed  by  his  Swiss 
mercenaries.  When  discovered,  dressed  like  one  of 
these  and  trying  to  escape,  he  was  imprisoned  by  Louis 
in  the  Castle  of  Loches,  until  he  died.  Deep  down  in 
these  dungeons  there  is  a  gloomy,  isolated  cell,  on  the 


104         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

damp  walls  of  which,  to  keep  himself  from  madness, 
Ludovico  carved  his  name  and  other  curious  inscrip- 
tions, leaving  there  the  outlines  of  his  own  face,  all 
of  which  are  discernible  to-day.  Ludovico  Sforza 
was  recognized  as  the  most  "  illustrious  Maecenas  "  of 
his  age.  He  did  much  to  beautify  the  Certosa  of 
Pavia,  besides  many  other  works  demanding  great 
culture.  The  legitimate  duke,  Gian  Galeazzo  Sforza, 
Ludovico's  nephew,  having  died  in  the  Castle  of  Pavia 
some  years  before,  Louis  XII.  came  into  possession 
of  Milan  in  1500;  and  during  the  next  twelve  years 
all  of  Lombardy  fell  under  his  sway.  He  then  turned 
his  attention  to  Naples.  Frederick,  the  new  king,  with 
his  disbanded  army  and  empty  treasury,  could  offer  but 
little  resistance,  although  the  troops  Charles  VIII. 
had  left  were  scattered  and  without  a  head.  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic,  of  Spain,  soon  made  an  alliance  with 
Louis  XII. ;  but  at  the  same  time  arranged  one  with 
Frederick,  who  placed  his  fortresses  in  the  possession 
of  the  Spanish  troops.  This  was  the  Ferdinand  con- 
nected with  Columbus  and  the  discovery  of  America, 
the  consort  of  Isabella.  When  the  French  battalions 
crossed  the  frontier,  Gonsalvo  da  Cordova,  the  Span- 
ish general,  disclosed  the  treachery  of  the  King  of 
Spain  in  his  alliance  with  the  French,  and  his  dis- 
loyalty to  Frederick  of  Naples;  and  Frederick  was 
forced  to  surrender  and  flee  to  Ischia,  where  he  died 
three  years  after. 

In  1502  the  French  and  Spaniards  quarreled  over 
the  partition  of  the  territory  and  fought  a  battle  near 
Cerignola  in  Apulia,  where  the  French  were  totally 
defeated  by  this  Gonsalvo,  called  the  Great  Captain. 
Although  his  character  was  perfidious,  he  possessed 
great  military  genius  and  heroic  courage.  After  one 


"Age  of  Invasion  105 

or  two  more  disastrous  battles,  the  French,  fearing  that 
they  should  lose  Milan,  abandoned  the  contest;  and 
in  this  way  the  Spanish  got  possession  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Naples  and  held  it,  with  some  interruption  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  until  1861,  excepting  during  the 
time  of  Napoleon's  dominion. 

Alexander  VI.  granted  Louis  XII.  a  divorce  from 
his  first  wife,  and  in  return  received  the  lordship  of 
Imola,  Faenza,  Forli  and  Pesaro ;  and  Cesare  Borgia, 
in  order  to  insure  the  inheritance,  murdered  all  the 
heirs  of  these  ruling  families.  Louis  XII.  refused  to 
let  Cesare  annoy  the  Florentines,  since  he  wanted  them 
and  the  Bolognese  on  his  side;  but  Cesare  in  1502 
got  hold  of  Urbino.  He  was  physically  strong,  tall, 
handsome  and  mentally  powerful ;  but  he  was  cruel 
and  treacherous  and  soon  gained  the  hatred  and  con- 
tempt of  all  Italy.  A  conspiracy  called  the  Diet  of 
Magione  was  made  against  him  by  Bentivoglio  of 
Bologna,  Baglione  of  Perugia,  Antonio  di  Venassio 
of  Siena  and  the  Orsini. 

Under  the  cover  of  great  friendship  for  the  Orsini, 
Cesare  in  1502  assembled  Paoli  and  Francesco  Orsini 
with  others,  apart  from  their  troops  in  the  Castle  of 
Senigallia,  where  he  strangled  them  and  annihilated 
the  family.  The  old  Orsini  Palace  is  seen  on  the  ruins 
of  the  Theater  of  Marcellus  in  Rome,  where  the  later 
residence  of  the  Neapolitan  branch  is  in  the  Gravina 
Palace  in  Naples. 

Pope  Alexander,  whose  corrupt  reign  had  been 
filled  with  intrigue  and  the  grossest  crimes,  died  from 
drinking  poison,  which  he  had  mixed  for  one  of  his 
cardinals.  Cesare  was  only  saved  from  the  same 
fate  by  his  temperate  habits.  The  new  Pope,  Pius 
III.,  lived  only  a  few  months,  and  his  successor,  Julius 


106         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

II.,  seized  and  imprisoned  Cesare  because  he  had  not 
been  of  service  to  him  against  the  Venetians  and  had 
failed  to  advance  the  growth  of  the  Holy  See.  In 
1504  Cesare  sought  refuge  with  the  Spanish  general, 
Gonsalvo,  who,  ignoring  his  feigned  friendship,  sent 
him  off  to  Spain  and  had  him  shut  up  in  the  Castle 
of  Medina  del  Campo.  Finally  Cesare  escaped  to 
his  brother-in-law  John,  King  of  Navarre,  and  served 
in  his  army  until  he  was  shot  under  the  walls  of 
Viana. 

A  legend  revived  in  modern  literature  relates  that 
Cesare  neglected  his  beautiful  bride,  Charlotte  d'Al- 
bret,  and  finally  wished  to  get  rid  of  her  altogether. 
Taking  advantage  of  her  affection  for  him,  he  sent 
her  a  warm  velvet  canopy  for  her  bed,  adorned  at  the 
head  by  a  protecting  Madonna  with  a  snowy  white 
mantle.  This  he  begged  her  to  use,  in  order  that  he 
might  think  of  her  warm  and  protected  in  the  cold 
north.  But  she  sent  back  the  message  that  it  should 
not  be  put  to  any  service  until  his  return.  The  lovely 
princess,  however,  soon  died  and  was  wrapped  in  the 
curtains  she  had  cherished  for  his  sake,  enfolded  in  the 
Madonna's  white  mantle.  Scores  of  years  after,  when 
exhumed,  her  face  was  still  fair  and  white,  preserved 
by  the  arsenical  compound  with  which  Cesare  had 
intended  to  poison  her. 

Cesare's  sister,  Lucrezia  Borgia,  is  conspicuous  in 
history  for  her  cruelty  and  for  her  knowledge  of  poi- 
sons, which  she  may  have  been  falsely  accused  of  using 
in  disposing  of  persons  who  stood  in  her  way.  Gio- 
vanni Sforza  of  Pesaro  was  her  first  husband;  after 
him  Alphonso  di  Biseglia;  and  finally  she  married 
Alphonso  d'Este,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Ferrara.  She 
survived  her  whole  family  and  lived  surrounded  by 


Age  of  Invasion  107 

poets  and  men  of  letters.  Personally  she  was  very 
attractive,  having  a  dazzling-  complexion  and  silver- 
blond  hair;  and  intellectually  she  is  said  by  some  to 
have  been  a  genius.  Charming  as  she  was  in  person, 
however,  her  character  is  said  to  have  been  wholly 
depraved.  Victor  Hugo  made  her  the  subject  of  a 
play  which  is  the  basis  for  the  text  of  the  opera  of 
Donizetti. 

Louis  XII.  in  becoming  Duke  of  Milan  also  gained 
Genoa.  He  ordered  the  Genoese  coin  to  be  stamped 
with  his  mark  as  a  sign  of  submission. 

Ever  since  Charles  VIII.  had  gained  independence 
for  Pisa,  the  Florentines  had  made  strenuous  efforts 
to  re-establish  their  power  over  the  city.  Finally,  after 
many  negotiations,  Louis  XII.  and  Ferdinand  of  Spain 
agreed  to  the  sum  of  money  Florence  offered;  and 
Pisa  in  1509,  after  fifteen  years  of  war,  again  lost  her 
freedom. 

Venice  now  extended  from  Aquileia  to  the  Adda, 
and  on  the  south  to  Rimini  and  Ravenna.  It  included 
Friuli  and  the  coast  of  Dalmatia,  Cyprus,  Crete,  and 
some  points  on  the  Peloponnesus,  besides  towns  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  such  as  Otranto,  Brindisi  and 
Trani,  which  had  been  given  up  as  pledges  in  war. 
Disaffected  by  the  gaining  power  of  Venice,  Louis 
XIL,  Ferdinand  of  Spain,  Julius  II.,  besides  some  of 
the  minor  powers,  all  of  which  respectively  desired 
parts  of  her  dominion,  united  and  formed  the  League 
of  Cambray  in  1508,  agreeing  to  divide  among  them- 
selves all  future  conquests. 

This  was  a  critical  time  for  the  Venetian  States,  since 
by  the  terms  of  the  treaty  they  were  reduced  to  their 
original  islands;  but  Julius  II.,  not  wishing  to  see  the 
other  nations  gaining  so  much  ground  and  desiring 


io8         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Venice  as  a  barrier  against  the  Turks,  went  over  to  the 
side  of  the  Venetians,  and  in  1510  broke  up  the  League 
of  Cambray. 

Julius  II.  now  turned  all  his  attention  to  expelling 
the  foreign  powers  from  Italy ;  but,  being  thwarted 
in  this  by  the  French,  he  formed  a  Holy  League,  in 
which  Henry  VIII.  of  England  joined,  and  afterwards 
Ferdinand  of  Spain.  The  French  were  successful  in 
several  contests,  conquering  at  Ravenna  the  Pope's 
forces  led  by  Fabriccio  Colonna,  and  the  Spaniards 
by  General  Raymond  di  Cordona;  but  they  lost  their 
distinguished  though  brutal  leader,  Gaston  de  Fois, 
Duke  of  Nemours,  called  the  "  Thunderer  of  Italy." 
A  few  months  later  Maximilian,  then  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, joined  the  Holy  Alliance  and,  with  two  thousand 
Swiss  mercenaries  belonging  to  the  allies,  overran 
the  Duchy  of  Milan  and  drove  the  French  out  of 
Italy.  The  confederates  of  the  old  Ducal  party  now 
proclaimed  Maximilian  Sforza,  son  of  Ludovico,  duke. 

After  the  French  were  expelled  from  the  kingdom 
the  allies  met  at  Mantua  and  decided  that  Florence, 
notwithstanding  she  had  remained  strictly  neutral  dur- 
ing the  contest,  must  receive  back  the  Medici.  The 
Great  Council  agreed  to  admit  the  latter  as  private 
persons,  but,  the  Florentines  themselves  refusing,  the 
city  was  taken  by  storm  August  29,  1512,  after  a 
siege  of  twenty-one  days,  by  the  Spanish  Viceroy  Ray- 
mond di  Cordona,  a  brutal  massacre  following.  Don 
Raymond  forced  the  Florentines  to  join  the  League 
against  the  French,  besides  paying  him  a  large  sum. 
Among  the  changes  in  the  government  during  the  long 
struggle  in  Florence,  the  office  of  Gonfaloniere  had 
become  a  life  tenure ;  but  this  officer  was  now  forced  to 
leave  the  city,  and  after  Giovanni  di  Medici  with  his 


Age  of  Invasion  109 

nephew  Lorenzo,  son  of  the  banished  Pietro,  had  taken 
possession,  the  common  bell  assembled  the  people,  who 
were  obliged  to  agree  by  means  of  a  Balia  to  re-estab- 
lish the  Medici  in  their  former  places  of  greatness. 

During  these  many  dissensions,  Pope  Julius  II.,  who 
had  striven  for  temporal  power  in  order  to  enlarge  the 
Holy  See  rather  than  to  enrich  his  house,  died  in  1513. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Giovanni  de'  Medici  (Leo  X.) 
and  the  Holy  League  was  broken  up. 

Italy  was  the  leader  of  the  Renaissance,  and  the 
early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  called  by  the 
Italians  the  "  Cinquecento,"  being  a  time  of  great 
intellectual  growth,  the  arts  and  sciences  flourished. 
The  stiffness  in  art  which  had  prevailed  among  the 
painters  before  Giotto  and  Fra  Angelico,  and  which 
had  arisen  from  their  stereotyped  religious  views, 
relaxed  as  artists  began  to  study  the  Grecian  master- 
pieces of  antiquity.  Many  of  these  great  works  of  art 
the  sculptors  found  in  Lorenzo  de'  Medici's  large  collec- 
tion in  Florence ;  and  the  enthusiasm  was  further  stimu- 
lated by  discoveries  made  in  the  excavations  in  Rome 
during  the  reign  of  Julius  II.,  particularly  the  exhum- 
ing of  the  Laocoon  in  the  Baths  of  Titus.  At  the  same 
time  the  Chapel  of  Masaccio  became  the  school  for 
painters  in  Florence. 

The  Popes,  who,  since  Gregory's  VII.'s  time,  had 
ceased  to  devote  all  their  energies  to  the  good  of  the 
Church,  now  encouraged  a  more  secular  spirit  in  art 
and  literature.  Before  Julius  II.  died  he  had  begun 
to  pull  down  the  old  Basilica  of  St.  Peter's  to  make 
room  for  the  present  magnificent  structure;  but  Bra- 
manti,  whom  he  employed  as  the  first  architect,  con- 
ceived plans  so  vast  that  it  took  centuries  to  realize 
them.  To  carry  on  the  work,  Leo  X.  now  introduced 


no         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  idea  of  granting  indulgences ;  and  he  was  no  doubt 
sufficiently  gratified  when  he  saw  how  this  adroit 
scheme  was  bringing  in  millions,  not  only  for  his  wars 
and  the  building  of  the  great  Cathedral,  but  to  satisfy 
his  own  luxurious  tastes. 

The  patronage  of  art  had  reached  its  climax  under 
Julius  II.,  who  brought  from  Florence  to  Rome  the 
painter  and  sculptor,  Michelangelo,  and  employed  him 
in  decorating  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  built 
by  Sixtus  IV.  These  adornments  are  at  the  present 
day  more  studied  than  any  others  of  Michelangelo's 
works. 

It  was  later,  in  Clement  VII/s  time,  when  Michel- 
angelo was  engaged  in  painting  "  The  Last  Judgment  " 
on  the  altar  wall  of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  that  the  romance 
of  his  life  began  with  his  ardent  friendship  for  Vit- 
toria  Colonna.  In  perfect  reverence  and  loyalty  "  he 
lavished  on  her  not  only  all  the  deep  tenderness  and 
devotion  of  which  such  a  nature  as  his  was  capable, 
but  he  was  prodigal  in  dispensing  for  her  the  treasures 
of  his  great  genius ;  for  she  is  said  to  have  been  the 
theme  of  his  finest  sonnets,  which  he  mastered  with  the 
same  gigantic  stroke  as  he  did  the  productions  of  his 
chisel ;  and  his  most  exquisite  drawings  were  created 
for  her  gratification.  Besides  all  of  this,  he  found 
time  in  the  midst  of  his  mighty  undertakings  to  spend 
long,  bright  hours  in  her  society;  and  finally  when, 
during  political  crises,  they  were  separated,  a  close 
correspondence  kept  their  hearts  united." 

This  attachment  was  also  a  great  solace  to  the 
gifted  poetess,  who  rejected  all  suitors  to  her  hand 
and  remained  true  to  the  memory  of  the  husband  of 
her  youth,  the  Marquis  of  Pescara,  while  cultivating 
literary  pursuits  to  the  end  of  her  life  in  the  compan- 


ARTISTS. 
Raphael.  Giotto. 

Michaelanfjclo. 
Fro  Angelica.  Leonardo  da.  Vinci. 


"Age  of  Invasion  in 

ionship  of  the  great  sculptor;  and  when  she  died 
Michelangelo's  life  was  darkened  by  the  shadow  of 
this  great  grief. 

At  Florence,  Michelangelo  had  met  Leonardo  da 
Vinci  and  competed  with  him  in  making  designs  for 
the  Palazzo  Vecchio.  Leonardo  had  been  brought  to 
Milan  by  Ludovico  Sforza,  and  in  the  short  time  he 
was  there  he  painted  "  The  Last  Supper  "  on  the  wall 
of  the  Church  of  Maria  delle  Grazie.  Unfortunately 
time  has  so  injured  the  wonderful  painting  that  it  is 
feared  it  will  soon  be  entirely  obliterated.  Leonardo 
di  Vinci,  like  the  Greeks,  aimed  at  perfection ;  therefore 
his  works  are  few. 

In  the  time  of  Julius  II.  Raphael  painted  the  "  Dis- 
puta,"  which  is  in  the  Stanza  della  Segnatura  in  the 
Vatican  in  Rome.  Most  of  the  famous  paintings  of 
this  celebrated  artist,  such  as  the  Sistine  Madonna, 
the  "  Madonna  della  Sedia,"  etc.,  were  executed 
during  the  reign  of  Leo  X.,  but  some  of  those  in  the 
Stanze  were  finished  by  his  pupils  after  his  death. 
Raphael  designed  the  galleries  called  his  Loggie,  which 
connect  the  different  parts  of  the  palace,  and  had 
them  decorated  as  seen  to-day.  Between  the  years 
1513  and  1516,  in  Leo  X/s  time,  Raphael  prepared 
drawings  for  some  tapestries,  the  designs  of  which 
were  taken  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  They 
were  worked  by  the  weavers  of  Flanders,  or  some  say 
in  the  looms  of  Brussels.  Having  been  completed  in 
the  marvelously  short  time  of  three  years,  they  were 
placed  on  the  lower  wall  of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  and 
though  afterwards  carried  off,  they  were  returned 
and  are  to  be  seen  at  present  in  a  much  damaged  con- 
dition in  the  Galleria  degli  Arazzi,  in  the  Vatican. 
The  designs,  having  necessarily  been  cut  in  strips  for 


H2         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  weavers,  were  left  in  Flanders,  until  Charles  I. 
of  England  bought  them.  Cromwell  preserved  them, 
and  in  the  reign  of  William  III.  they  were  joined 
together  and  hung  in  Hampton  Court  near  London, 
but  at  present  are  to  be  seen  in  the  South  Kensington 
Museum.  Raphael's  last  work,  "  The  Transfigura- 
tion," was  painted  for  Clement  VII. 

In  his  historical  scenes  Raphael  was  assisted  by 
many  young  artists,  who  frequently  exhibited  little  of 
the  genius  and  keen  artistic  insight  of  their  master. 

Michelangelo's  paintings  are  easily  recognized  by 
the  magnificent  outline  of  the  drawing  instead  of 
the  high  coloring  which  is  the  characteristic  of  the 
Venetian  School.  The  three  great  Venetian  artists 
are  Titian,  Tintoretto  and  Paul  Veronese.  Benevenuto 
Cellini  did  his  best  work  in  the  reign  of  Pope  Clement 
VII.  He  is  well  known  as  a  Florentine  goldsmith, 
as  well  as  being  an  engraver. 

The  Golden  Age  of  Leo  X.  was  also  distinguished 
by  much  literary  achievement.  Ariosto  and  Pietro 
Bembo,  among  others,  wrote  in  Italian.  Ariosto  com- 
posed in  an  age  of  courtly  splendor,  at  a  time  when 
the  accomplished  men  of  the  day  could  equally  wield 
a  sword  or  write  a  love  poem.  Hence  he  wrote  of 
mad  adventure,  of  combat,  of  paladins  and  the  lover's 
devotion.  In  his  "  Orlando  Furioso "  he  captivated 
both  the  gay  and  the  earnest. 

Tasso,  a  courtier  as  well  as  a  poet,  wrote,  half  a 
century  later,  when  the  bards  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
like  those  of  two  centuries  earlier,  wove  their  sorrows 
into  their  writings. 

Poor  Tasso,  out  of  joint  with  everybody  and 
everything,  finished  only  two  poems  of  great  merit, 
"  Aminta  "  and  the  "  Jerusalem  Delivered."  The  latter 


Age  of  Invasion  113 

is  said  to  be  the  best  heroic  poem  of  which  Italy  can 
boast.  His  "  Rinaldo  "  was  composed  when  he  was 
seventeen  years  old,  gaining  him  the  name  "  Tassino  " 
(dear  little  Tasso).  Carducci  says  of  Tasso  that  he 
was  the  legitimate  heir  of  Dante ;  but  Tasso  loved  and 
commented  on  love  in  a  learned  style,  even  his  passion 
for  Leonora  seeming  generally  philosophical. 

After  all  his  misfortunes,  Tasso,  like  Petrarch,  was 
invited  during  the  winter  of  1595  to  Rome  to  receive 
the  laurel  crown ;  but  before  the  laurel  was  green  he 
saw  his  end  approaching;  and,  ascending  to  the  Mon- 
astery of  St.  Onofrio,  on  the  Janiculum,  he  told  the 
prior,  who  came  out  to  meet  him,  that  he  had  come 
to  die  with  him.  He  was  only  fifty-one  years  old  when 
the  end  came,  in  the  April  of  1595;  and  twelve  years 
after  a  monument  was  raised  to  his  memory.  His 
cell  in  the  monastery  is  at  present  an  object  of  great 
interest,  the  same  garden  where  he  used  to  walk  being 
still  seen,  together  with  the  tree  under  which  he  sat, 
called  the  "  Tasso  Tree." 

Among  the  prose  writers  of  the  Golden  Age  was 
Machiavelli.  He  brought  out  the  "  History  of 
Florence,"  his  native  city,  and  a  political  essay  called 
"  The  Prince,"  which  relates  rather  grotesquely  the 
duties  of  a  monarch  and  what  his  character  should  be 
in  the  troublous  and  corrupt  times  in  which  he  wrote. 
The  Medici  ignored  him  because  he  ridiculed  them. 
Guicciardini  also  wrote  the  "  History  of  Italy  "  from 
1494  to  1526. 


H4         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 


CHAPTER   IX 

AGE   OF   SPANISH   RULE. CLEMENT  VII. FALL   OF   THE 

MEDICI. — THE  JESUITS. — DECLINE  OF  VENICE. 
1618—1674  A.D. 

OOPE  JULIUS  had  so  extended  the  rule  of  the 
1  Church  that  when  Leo  succeeded  him  he  found 
that  his  sway  was  vast.  King  Ferdinand  of  Spain 
still  held  Sicily,  Sardinia  and  Naples  and  was  as 
anxious  as  the  Pope  to  keep  the  French  from  getting 
the  upper  hand  in  Italy.  The  people,  however,  of  the 
Duchy  of  Milan,  which  now  included  Genoa,  were 
tired  of  the  Sforza  rule  under  Swiss  support ;  and  one 
Antonio  Adorno  of  Genoa  having  incited  a  revolution 
in  favor  of  Louis  XII.,  Maximilian  Sforza  was  obliged 
to  flee.  But  the  French  were  again  defeated  and  Sforza 
returned  to  his  duchy  for  two  years  longer. 

In  1515  Louis  XII.  died  and  was  succeeded  by 
Francis  I.,  who  immediately  claimed  Milan.  Leo  X., 
alarmed,  sent  his  nephew  Lorenzo  to  meet  the  forces 
of  Francis,  who  was  joined  by  Robert  de  la  Marck, 
the  leader  of  the  Free  Company  called  the  Black  Band, 
and  by  the  Doge  of  Genoa,  Ottaviano  Fregoso.  While 
the  Florentine  forces  and  the  Spanish  under  their  vice- 
roy, together  with  the  Papal  army  under  Prospero 
Colonna,  were  marching  to  unite  with  the  Swiss  mer- 
cenaries, Prospero  Colonna  was  taken  prisoner  at 
Villafranca.  The  remaining  allies  failing  to  appear, 
on  account  of  lack  of  united  action,  the  Swiss  were 
left  alone  to  meet  the  enemy.  On  September  13  the 


rAge  of  Spanish  Rule  115 

great  battle  of  Marignano  was  fought.  The  Swiss, 
who  had  now  become  the  great  mercenary  force  of 
Europe,  made  the  French  waver  by  their  courage, 
keeping  up  the  fight  by  moonlight,  so  that  the  victory 
was  still  undecided  when  the  moon  set.  The  next 
day  the  Venetians,  however,  attacked  the  Swiss  in  the 
rear,  and  the  battle  ended  in  favor  of  Francis,  twenty 
thousand  dead  being  left  on  the  battlefield.  This  has 
been  termed  "  a  Battle  of  Giants."  The  Swiss  now 
left  the  Italian  service  forever  and  hired  out  as  mer- 
cenaries to  the  King  of  France. 

Ferdinand,  King  of  Spain,  who  by  his  marriage 
with  Isabella  had  united  Aragon  and  Castile,  died  in 
1516,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson  Charles. 
The  latter  was  also  the  grandson  of  Maximilian  the 
Great  of  Germany;  for  Charles'  mother  Joanna,  the 
daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  had  married 
Philip  of  Austria,  the  son  of  Maximilian  and  Mary  of 
Burgundy. 

When  Emperor  Maximilian  died  in  1519,  Charles 
V.  and  Francis  I.  of  France  were  candidates  for  the 
election;  and  Charles,  who  ruled  over  Spain  and  the 
Low  Countries,  the  Two  Sicilies,  the  Netherlands, 
Franche  Compte,  and  the  new  colonies  in  America 
just  discovered  by  Columbus,  was  now  elected.  He 
also  inherited  Imperial  dignity  and  the  title  of  King  of 
Jerusalem.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  title  of  King 
of  the  Romans  was  changed  to  Emperor  elect,  and 
became  the  natural  appendage  of  the  King  of  Ger- 
many. Charles  V.'s  rule  was  much  more  extensive 
than  that  of  the  Roman  Emperors  in  the  days  of  their 
greatest  glory ;  and  his  ambition  was  even  greater  than 
theirs.  This  was  the  beginning  of  Spanish  supremacy 
in  Italy. 


ii6         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

A  reformation  had  long  been  brewing  in  the  silence 
of  the  German  cloisters,  and  was  now  led  by  the 
Augustinian  monk,  Martin  Luther,  who  was  assisted 
by  the  Elector  of  Saxony  and  many  others  in  the  Em- 
pire ;  and  this  movement  was  joined  later  by  Zwingli  of 
Zurich  and  Calvin  of  Geneva.  Charles  V.'s  interest  as 
a  Spaniard  leaned  toward  the  Church  in  this  matter ; 
and  besides  it  was  better  policy  to  fight  on  the  side  of 
the  Pope.  Accordingly  he  made  a  treaty  with  Leo  X. 
in  1521,  and  in  the  long  struggle  which  followed  he 
was  always  most  active  in  his  hostilities  against  Luther 
and  those  especially  interested  in  carrying  on  the 
Reformation. 

After  the  Battle  of  Marignano,  September  13,  1515, 
when  the  Duchy  of  Milan  fell  into  the  hands  of  France, 
Maximilian  Sforza  was  forced  by  Francis  I.  to  retire 
into  exile  in  France,  where  he  lived  as  a  private  citizen 
until  his  death  in  1530;  but  Charles  V.  and  the  Pope 
now  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity,  in  the 
absence  of  the  governor  placed  over  the  duchy,  to 
enter  Milan  without  opposition,  and  to  proclaim  as 
Duke,  Francesco  Maria  Sforza,  Ludovico's  son,  and 
the  younger  brother  of  Maximilian  Sforza.  Fran- 
cesco Sforza  II.  married  Christina,  daughter  of  Chris- 
tian II.  of  Denmark.  She  was  the  princess  who,  when 
sought  in  marriage  by  Henry  VIII.,  is  said  to  have 
replied  that  if  she  had  two  heads  one  of  them  should 
be  at  his  disposal. 

At  his  death  Sforza  bequeathed  the  duchy  to  Charles 
V.,  Parma  and  Piacenza  being  given  back  to  the 
Pope;  and  in  the  midst  of  his  rejoicing  at  another 
triumph  of  his  party  over  the  French,  Leo  X.  died  in 
1521.  The  culture  and  brilliancy  of  his  reign  have 
almost  obliterated  in  the  minds  of  posterity  the  cor- 


Age  of  Spanish  Rule  117 

ruption  and  falseness  of  his  character;  but  in  fact  it 
was  the  general  depravity  of  his  government  and  his 
wholesale  barter  of  indulgences  which  brought  the 
Reformation  to  a  crisis.  Fortunately  for  him,  he 
passed  away  before  the  disturbance  he  had  set  in 
motion  had  proved  destructive  to  the  welfare  of  the 
Church. 

Hadrian  VI.,  a  native  of  Utrecht,  succeeded  Leo 
X.  He  was  the  most  holy  prelate  of  his  age.  The 
voluptuous  Romans  called  him  the  "  Barbarian  Pon- 
tiff," because  he  was  a  foreigner,  and  they  hated  him 
for  his  austerity  of  life,  simplicity  of  manners  and  the 
sincerity  of  his  views.  They  rejoiced  when,  unable 
to  stem  the  tide  of  popular  corruption,  he  died  two 
years  after  his  election.  His  greatest  effort  had  been 
made  in  trying  to  arouse  Christendom  against  the 
Turks. 

Venice,  in  her  alliance  with  France  at  the  Battle 
of  Marignano,  had  gained  all  she  had  previously  lost ; 
but,  dissatisfied,  she  now  united  with  Charles  V.,  agree- 
ing to  defend  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  against  the 
Turks.  In  1522  Francis  I.  was  driven  completely 
out  of  Italy  by  the  defeat  of  his  army  near  Milan; 
and  Genoa,  the  only  remaining  seaport  left  to  the 
French  in  the  peninsula,  was  lost.  Ottoviano  Fregoso 
was  taken  prisoner  in  this  contest  and  Antonio  Adorno 
succeeded  him.  A  League  was  now  made  between 
the  Pope,  the  Emperor  elect,  the  King  of  England,  the 
Archduke  of  Austria  and  the  Duke  of  Milan  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  French.  Francis,  however,  was  again  try- 
ing to  force  his  way  into  Italy,  when  his  chief  general, 
Charles  of  Bourbon,  "the  Great  Constable,"  became 
disaffected  because  the  king's  mother,  Louise  of  Savoy, 
hating  him,  made  a  claim  on  his  estates,  and  formed 


n8         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

an  alliance  with  Charles  V.,  Henry  of  England,  and 
the  Pope.  Francis,  having  heard  of  the  powerful  com- 
bination against  him,  did  not  dare  to  leave  the  coun- 
try for  fear  of  an  English  and  Spanish  invasion. 
Accordingly  he  gave  the  command  of  the  French 
troops  to  Guillaume  de  Bonnivet,  the  Admiral  of 
France,  who  was  soon  defeated  by  the  diplomacy  of 
Prospero  Colonna,  and  obliged  to  quit  the  country. 

In  1524,  when  the  French  army  was  retiring,  their 
rear  was  defended  by  Chevalier  Bayard,  the  ideal 
knight  of  chivalry.  In  directing  the  retreat  Bayard 
was  mortally  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  The  Great 
Constable  found  him  under  a  tree,  dying  with  his  face 
still  turned  to  the  enemy  and  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
cross  formed  by  the  hilt  of  his  sword.  The  Constable 
tried  to  console  him;  but  Chevalier  Bayard  replied: 
"  It  is  not  I  who  am  an  object  of  pity,  for  I  die  as  a 
man  of  honor.  It  is  you  who  have  turned  traitor  to 
your  country  and  king." 

Though  the  Great  Constable  forced  the  French  to 
leave  Italy,  he  himself  was  obliged  to  retire  from  an 
encounter  in  Provence ;  and  in  doing  so  he  gave  the 
enemy  the  advantage,  so  that  the  French  again  crossed 
the  Mont  Cenis  and  would  have  marched  directly  to 
central  and  southern  Italy  had  not  Charles  V.  by  his 
diplomacy  circumvented  them.  The  latter's  cause,  how- 
ever, was  almost  lost,  when  Giovanni  di  Medici  (de- 
scended from  Cosimo  I.),  of  the  younger  Medici  line 
and  leader  of  the  Black  Band,  went  over  to  the  French. 
Besides  this,  at  that  same  time  the  Pope  became  neu- 
tral. The  Great  Constable,  however,  with  the  Marquis 
of  Pescara,  came  back  to  the  relief  of  Charles'  army 
and  united  with  the  Emperor's  brother,  Duke  Fer- 
dinand of  Germany,  who,  with  a  force  under  General 


Age  of  Spanish  Rule  119 

Freundsburg,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1525,  defeated 
the  French  at  Pavia.  Francis  and  his  brother  Henry 
were  taken  prisoners,  with  eight  thousand  others;  and 
many  were  drowned  in  the  Ticino,  Admiral  Bonnivet 
and  Richard  de  la  Pole  being  among  the  French 
nobles  and  commanders  slain. 

Francis  was  shut  up  in  the  Castle  of  Pizzighittone, 
near  Milan ;  but  was  afterwards  confined  in  the  Tower 
of  Alcazar  at  Madrid,  where  he  had  plenty  of  time  to 
indulge  in  his  favorite  pastime  of  writing  sonnets. 
Duke  Francesco  Sforza  II.,  assisted  by  Henry  VIII. 
and  the  Venetians,  and  joined  by  the  dowager  queen 
of  France,  all  united  to  drive  the  Spaniards  and  Ger- 
mans out  of  Italy,  and  they  also  attempted  to  deliver 
Francis  I.  from  prison.  They  were  abetted  by  the 
Pope,  the  combination  being  called  the  Holy  League. 
The  Marquis  of  Pescara,  however,  discovered  the  plot, 
and  though  for  a  time  he  pretended  to  favor  it,  soon 
betrayed  the  whole  plan,  and  at  the  command  of 
Emperor  Charles  V.  seized  all  the  strongholds  in  the 
duchy  except  the  castles  of  Cremona  and  Milan.  The 
Marquis  of  Pescara  died  before  the  end  of  that  year. 
He  was  the  husband  of  the  gifted  Vittoria  Colonna. 
The  Great  Constable  again  took  command  in  the  Mar- 
quis of  Pescara's  place ;  and,  although  his  army  was 
scantily  supplied  with  food  and  pay,  he  was  victorious 
and  forced  the  Duchy  of  Milan  to  endure  every  kind 
of  outrage  because  the  duke  had  joined  the  Holy 
League. 

In  the  beginning  of  1526  Francis  I.  obtained  his 
freedom  by  renouncing  his  claims  to  Naples,  Milan, 
Genoa  and  Asti  in  the  Treaty  of  Madrid ;  but  as  soon 
as  he  was  restored  to  his  kingdom  he  declared  all  his 
concessions  null  and  void  because  they  had  been  made 


120         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

under  duress.  The  Pope  then  tried  to  induce  him  to 
join  the  League. 

In  the  spring  of  1527  the  German  troops  under  Gen- 
eral Freundsburg  were  joined  by  the  army  of  the 
Great  Constable,  which  had  become  mutinous  on  ac- 
count of  the  scantiness  of  the  pay.  These  marched 
quickly  towards  Rome,  to  overthrow  the  Pope,  whose 
generals  were  defending  the  city.  Freundsburg  died 
in  a  fit  just  before  reaching  Rome;  and  the  Great 
Constable  on  the  6th  day  of  May,  1527,  assaulted  the 
city. 

Although  the  Constable  was  slain  while  scaling  the 
walls,  his  forces  continued  the  struggle  and  the  "  cap- 
ital of  the  world  soon  lay  at  the  mercy  of  thirty  or 
forty  thousand  ungovernable  soldiers."  The  Papal 
Guards  were  put  to  flight  and  the  Vatican  and  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter's  plundered.  The  German  Luther- 
ans destroyed,  as  idolatrous,  pictures  and  statues  which 
were  priceless,  but  the  Spaniards  committed  even 
greater  atrocities;  and  for  seven  months  the  city  was 
at  the  mercy  of  an  army  which  became  a  mob,  greater 
violence  being  inflicted  than  during  the  barbarian  inva- 
sions. Clement  VII.,  who  had  succeeded  Hadrian  VI. 
in  1523,  himself  escaped  to  the  impregnable  fortress 
of  St.  Angelo,  where  he  lived  in  close  confinement  for 
six  months. 

This  great  diplomatist  had  earlier,  as  Giulio  de' 
Medici,  been  the  counselor  of  Leo  X.,  and  for  a  long 
time  the  real  ruler  of  Florence.  At  present,  however, 
Clement  VII.'s  position  was  no  easy  one,  since,  on 
account  of  preserving  the  "  balance  of  power,"  he  did 
not  desire  that  the  Sicilies  and  the  Duchy  of  Milan 
should  be  under  the  same  rule;  and  he  was  accord- 
ingly hostile  to  the  Spaniards,  who  had  cared  nothing 


Age  of  Spanish  Rule  121 

for  the  interests  of  his  predecessors,  and  had  only 
cultivated  them  in  order  to  use  them  to  overthrow 
French  power  and  set  up  their  own  in  northern  Italy. 

Meanwhile,  outside  the  city  harvests  were  destroyed 
and  thousands  of  families  had  perished  through  sick- 
ness, famine  and  the  sword.  Giovanni  de'  Medici,  who 
had  led  his  Black  Band  against  Freundsburg,  con- 
tinued to  worry  the  German  forces,  until  mortally 
wounded  in  1526.  Although  already  celebrated  all 
over  the  Continent  for  bravery  and  ability,  he  was  only 
twenty-eight  years  of  age  when  he  died. 

The  six  years  after  the  death  of  Leo  X.  were  the 
darkest  recorded  in  Italian  history.  During  this  time 
little  duchies  arose  and  went  out  forever,  and  some 
permanent  despotisms  were  established.  New  terri- 
tory was  annexed  and  then  detached;  and  there  was 
constant  change  without  progress,  and  in  the  midst 
of  it  all  the  plague  again  broke  out. 

The  disturbances  in  Rome  produced  such  an  excite- 
ment that  the  Holy  League  reunited.  This  now  in- 
cluded, besides  Henry  VIII.  and  Francis  I.,  the  Pope, 
the  Republics  of  Venice  and  Florence,  the  Dukes  of 
Milan  and  Ferrara  and  the  Marquis  of  Mantua.  Eng- 
land supplied  the  money  and  France  sent  an  army  un- 
der Marshal  de  Lautrec,  who  took  Alessandria,  sacked 
Pavia  and  in  collusion  with  Andrea  Doria  removed 
Adorno  from  Genoa.  Lautrec  was  assisted  by  the 
remnant  of  Giovanni  de'  Medici's  Black  Band;  and, 
marching  into  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  would  have 
undermined  the  Spanish  strength  had  he  not  found 
that  kingdom  occupied  by  the  Prince  of  Orange.  As 
it  was,  the  whole  French  Invasion  failed.  In  1528 
Andrea  Doria  was  restored  to  power  in  Genoa,  and, 
disaffected  with  Lautrec's  methods,  he  deserted  him, 


122         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  invading  army  of  the  latter  enduring  the  greatest 
vicissitudes  on  account  of  not  being  acclimated. 

The  news  of  the  capture  of  Clement  VII.  caused 
great  rejoicing  in  Florence,  since  it  is  not  only  proved 
that  Savonarola  had  prophesied  correctly  concerning 
this  Pope's  reign,  but  also  because  his  rule  had  been 
scarcely  tolerated  during  the  minority  of  the  young 
Medici.  Accordingly  the  leading  citizens  told  Alex- 
ander, Clement  VII. 's  nephew,  and  the  young  Cardinal 
Ippolito,  the  natural  son  of  Lorenzo,  that  they  must 
go;  and  on  May  17,  1527,  Florence  was  for  the  sec- 
ond time  free  from  the  yoke  of  that  family,  Nicolo 
Capponi  being  chosen  Gonfaloniere.  The  government 
then  proceeded  to  form  an  alliance  against  Charles  V. 

In  the  Peace  of  Cambray,  1529,  notwithstanding  all 
that  had  been  done  for  Francis,  the  latter,  hoping  to 
place  himself  on  a  more  solid  basis,  left  Florence  and 
all  his  other  allies  in  the  lurch.  The  various  other 
states  and  duchies  in  connection  with  Francis  joined 
the  party  of  Charles  V.,  and  in  1530  the  latter  was 
crowned  King  of  Italy  and  Emperor  by  Clement  VII. 
in  Bologna. 

The  Florentines  now  saw  that  they  must  again  come 
under  the  power  of  the  Medici  or  struggle  alone  for 
their  liberty ;  and  when  they  heard  of  the  perfidy  of  the 
French  king  in  leaving  them  out  in  the  cold  at 
the  Treaty  of  Cambray,  their  courage  almost  entirely 
deserted  them.  They  had  learned,  however,  from 
Machiavelli,  in  his  "  Prince,"  the  necessity  of  organ- 
ized resistance;  and  the  inspiration  received  from  the 
Black  Band  of  Tuscany  had  kept  their  military  vigor 
alive.  Michelangelo,  also,  was  ready  to  assist  them; 
and,  when  he  was  appointed  to  superintend  the  building 
of  the  fortifications  of  Florence,  laid  waste  the  mag- 


Age  of  Spanish  Rule  123 

nificent  suburbs  in  all  directions,  lest  the  enemy  should 
find  a  hiding  place  in  these  charming  environs. 

Charles  V.  soon  sent  an  army  of  German  and  Span- 
ish troops  under  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  assault  the 
city.  These  were  at  first  beaten  off  by  Stephen 
Colonna,  the  commander  of  the  fortress  of  San  Min- 
iato;  and  Francesco  Ferruccio,  a  former  leader  of  the 
Black  Band,  fortified  Empoli,  making  it  a  storehouse 
from  which  the  Florentines  were  supplied  with  food, 
Empoli,  however,  was  betrayed  while  Francesco  Fer- 
ruccio was  away  retaking  Volterra.  The  Florentines 
were  soon  in  great  want  of  provisions,  especially  since 
Ferruccio,  while  marching  over  the  mountains  of  Pis- 
toia,  in  order  to  reinforce  the  city,  was  misled  by  his 
guides  and  his  plans  were  revealed  to  the  enemy.  A 
desperate  encounter  took  place  in  a  little  hamlet  among 
the  hills,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange  being  shot,  it  looked 
as  if  the  Florentines  had  gained  the  day;  but  Fer- 
ruccio, pierced  with  many  bullets,  was  taken  prisoner 
and  then  struck  down  in  the  market  place  by  an 
Imperialist  general,  meeting  his  death  fearlessly. 

The  last  hopes  of  Florence  now  faded.  After  an 
heroic  defense  the  city  was  betrayed,  in  1530,  through 
the  treachery  of  Malatesta  Baglione,  chief  captain  of 
the  armies  of  the  republic;  and  the  Signoria  were 
coerced  into  capitulating  to  Emperor  and  Pope.  The 
former  was  ,to  regulate  the  government  of  the  city, 
which,  though  it  nominally  preserved  its  liberty,  was 
obliged  to  pay  a  ransom  and  give  hostages  to  admit 
the  Medici.  A  Balia  was  forced  upon  the  citizens  and 
the  republican  magistrates  were  compelled  to  lay  down 
their  office;  and  thus  the  world-renowned  republic 
which  had  lasted  four  centuries  became  a  prey  to  the 
depraved  ambition  of  Clement  VII.,  the  most  crafty 


124         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

and  corrupt  of  all  the  Medici ;  and  for  three  hundred 
years  after,  the  history  of  Florence  is  almost  a  cipher, 
her  provinces  and  dukedoms  being  at  the  beck  and  call 
of  the  sovereigns  of  the  rest  of  Europe. 

When  the  Medici  took  vengeance  on  those  who  had 
fought  for  the  freedom  of  the  city,  Michelangelo 
was  saved  by  Pope  Clement  VIL,  who  needed  him  to 
complete  some  artistic  work.  The  old  bell  which  had 
pealed  forth  so  many  times  in  the  cause  of  freedom, 
bringing  the  citizens  together  to  consult  or  fight,  was 
now  broken  up,  a  new  Parliament  was  chosen,  a  new 
Council  elected  for  life  with  a  new  Senate ;  and  Ales- 
sandro  di  Medici  was  placed  over  them  as  duke.  All 
the  years  of  pestilence,  war  and  famine  had  not  so 
desolated  the  city,  nor  had  the  misery  of  the  people 
ever  been  so  hopeless  as  during  the  six  years  of  Ales- 
sandro  de'  Medici's  rule.  He  was  finally  murdered  by 
a  distant  kinsman,  and  with  him  the  elder  line  died  out, 
Ippolito  the  Cardinal  having  previously  been  assassi- 
nated at  Alessandro's  instigation. 

The  infamous  Pope  Clement  VII.  died  in  1534,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Paul  III.,  who  by  his  ability  gained 
the  respect  of  his  subjects.  The  latter  hated  the  Medici 
and  occupied  much  of  his  time  in  exalting  the  Farnese 
family.  Cosimo  II.,  the  son  of  Giovanni  of  the  Black 
Band,  was  chosen  by  a  party  led  by  the  historian 
Guicciardini,  and  was  so  powerful  that  after  one  or 
two  revolutions  the  Florentines  were  obliged  to  sub- 
mit, and  Cosimo's  reign  crushed  out  all  that  remained 
of  the  old  republican  spirit.  He,  like  the  earlier  of  the 
Medici,  cast  a  false  halo  over  tyranny,  by  ruling  the 
State  with  apparent  justice  and  moderation  as  well  as 
by  patronizing  art  and  literature.  His  successor, 
Ferdinand,  however,  governed  badly  and  all  the  pros- 


Age  of  Spanish  Rule  125 

perity  of  Cosimo  II.'s  reign  was  wiped  out.  Finally, 
two  centuries  later,  the  last  Grand  Duke  of  the  Medici 
family,  Giovanni  Gaston,  died  in  1737  after  a  disso- 
lute life. 

Pope  Paul  III.,  who  had  persuaded  the  Emperor  to 
give  his  daughter  Margaret,  widow  of  Alessandro  di 
Medici,  to  his  qwn  grandson,  Ottoviano,  now  bestowed 
the  coveted  Church  possessions,  Parma  and  Piacenza, 
on  his  own  son,  Pietro  Luigi,  at  the  same  time  de- 
priving Ottaviano  of  Camerino  in  order  to  give  it  to 
the  Church.  Ottaviano,  indignant,  took  sides  with 
his  father-in-law,  Charles  V.,  and  many  conspiracies 
against  Spanish  power  arose  in  which  Pietro  Luigi  was 
at  the  head.  He  was  at  last  assassinated  at  Piacenza 
by  Fernando  da  Gonzaga,  the  viceroy  of  Naples. 
Paul  III.  died  in  1553  and  was  succeeded  by  Julius  III., 
who  restored  Parma  to  Ottaviano.  Alessandro,  the 
son  of  the  latter  and  grandson  of  Charles  V.,  became 
a  famous  leader  under  Philip  II.  and  was  made  gov- 
ernor of  the  Netherlands.  He  had  been  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  Spanish  Armada;  but  the  fleet  of  Hol- 
land and  Zeeland  shut  him  up  while  the  English 
destroyed  the  Armada.  His  descendants  were  the 
Dukes  of  Parma  until  1731. 

There  were  so  many  other  complications  in  the  vari- 
ous kingdoms  of  Charles  V.,  that,  worn  out  by  the 
turmoil,  Charles  in  1555  gave  up  the  Low  Countries 
and  Burgundy  to  his  son  Philip,  who  already  ruled 
Sicily  and  Naples;  and  in  1556  he  retired  altogether, 
surrendering  to  Philip  his  rule  in  Spain,  at  the  same 
time  giving  the  title  of  Emperor  to  his  brother 
Ferdinand. 

A  Council  had  met  at  Trent  in  1545  to  define  the  sit- 
uation and  to  turn  out  of  the  Church  such  as  held  the 


126         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

new  doctrine  of  the  Reformation.  The  reform  views 
had  much  less  influence  in  Italy  than  in  other  coun- 
tries, yet  there  were  some  persons  in  almost  every  town, 
who ,  seeing  the  scandalous  lives  of  the  Popes  and 
Cardinals,  were  in  favor  of  a  Reformation  in  some 
form.  The  Society  of  Jesuits  soon  sprang  up  to  check 
such  heretical  tendencies,  their  founder  being  a  Span- 
iard, Ignatius  Loyola,  who  had  borne  arms  against  the 
French.  In  1540,  with  the  permission  of  Paul  III.,  he 
laid  the  foundation  of  this  "  Society  of  Jesus,"  and 
afterwards  labored  with  untiring  energy  to  crush  the 
Reformation.  Under  Loyola,  that  system  of  court 
spies,  judges  and  executioners,  known  as  the  Inquisi- 
tion, was  set  up  by  Pope  Paul  III. 

Pope  Paul  IV.,  who  followed  Julius  III.  in  all 
Church  affairs,  established  more  firmly  the  Inquisition. 
On  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  populace  against 
Paul  IV.,  the  citizens  at  the  news  of  his  death  formed 
a  mob  and  opened  the  prison  doors ;  and  after  liber- 
ating the  prisoners,  whom  he  had  ready  for  the  Inqui- 
sition, they  set  fire  to  the  building. 

At  first  the  Jesuits  numbered  only  sixty  members ; 
but,  assisted  by  privileges  granted  by  the  Pope,  they 
gained  great  power  among  the  people.  There  has 
been  much  discussion  concerning  the  benefits  con- 
ferred upon  mankind  by  this  order.  Their  worldwide 
missionary  work  was  no  doubt  of  great  service  to 
humanity,  for  through  it  they  established  seats  of 
learning,  and  in  it  exhibited  wonderful  devotion  to  duty 
in  every  direction.  They  obliged  the  Popes  to  reform 
their  lives,  and  the  requirements  of  their  holy  office 
were  soon  defined.  The  Jesuits,  however,  presently 
became  the  enemies  of  freedom  and  progress,  because 
they  thought  it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  Church. 


'Age  of  Spanish  Rule  127 

Culture  and  science  among  laymen  was  frowned  down 
by  the  order,  Galileo  being  twice  prosecuted  on  account 
of  his  discoveries.  All  books  printed  in  the  country 
were  subject  to  the  criticism  of  a  Jesuit  tribunal;  and 
accordingly  literature  gradually  disappeared  and  art 
became  enfeebled,  since  painters  were  obliged  to  con- 
fine themselves  to  religious  subjects.  Many  of  the 
oppressed  fled  to  England  and  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, to  escape  being  burned  as  heretics.  The  Jesuits 
were  not  suppressed  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  a  solemn  Bull  was  hurled  against  them 
by  Clement  XIV. 

Among  the  reformers  who  flourished  in  the  sixteenth 
century  there  was  a  sect  called  the  Waldenses,  who 
dwelt  for  the  most  part  in  the  western  Alps.  These 
took  their  name  from  Peter  Waldo,  a  reformer  of  the 
twelfth  century,  though  it  has  been  said  that  Waldo 
took  the  name  of  the  sect  when  he  became  a  convert 
to  their  views.  At  that  time  the  Bible  had  been  trans- 
lated into  their  language,  and  from  its  study  they 
thought  their  faith  was  more  genuine  than  that  of  the 
Albigenses,  a  sect  then  almost  extinct  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Alps ;  and  accordingly  there  were  many  quarrels 
between  them,  each  claiming  that  their  religion  was 
the  only  correct  doctrine. 

During  the  sixteenth  century  both  people  and  rulers 
degenerated,  and,  domestic  life  losing  much  of  its 
sacredness,  true  social  standards  for  the  most  part 
were  sacrificed. 

The  Papal  States  remained  unchanged  in  this  cen- 
tury, fourteen  such  insignificant  Popes  occupying  the 
Chair  of  St.  Peter  that  it  began  to  be  apparent  that 
Pontifical  power  was  on  the  decline.  Gregory  XIIL, 
however,  the  successor  of  Pius  V.  and  Pope  between 


128         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

1572  and  1585,  founded  many  useful  institutions.     He 
ornamented  the  galleries  of  the  Vatican,  and  is  espe- 
cially famous  for  completing  the  reform  of  the  calendar 
which  Julius  Caesar  had  commenced  so  many  centuries 
before. 

Turkish  power  reached  its  climax  in  the  last  part  of 
the  sixteenth  century  under  Sultan  Solyman.  Italy  was 
never  free  from  his  ravages,  the  towns  in  the  south, 
including  the  island  of  Venice  in  the  Adriatic,  and 
Corfu,  which  Venice  held  for  the  most  part  after  the 
crusades  until  1797,  being  especially  subject  to  his 
depredations.  Solyman's  son  Selim  was  a  no  less 
dreaded  opponent,  and,  he  having  determined  to  reduce 
Cyprus,  which  had  belonged  to  Venice  for  eighty  years, 
the  great  Battle  of  Lepanto  was  fought.  The  com- 
mander having  been  forced  to  make  terms  with  Selim's 
general,  Mustapha,  was  tortured  and  slain,  and  the 
garrison  sent  to  the  galleys. 

The  Venetians  at  last  had  to  accept  the  aid  of  an 
allied  fleet  gathered  by  the  exertions  of  Pius  V.  This 
was  victorious  over  the  Turks  outside  of  the  Gulf  of 
Lepanto;  and,  on  October  7,  1571,  with  great  loss  on 
both  sides,  Venice  and  a  great  part  of  Christendom 
were  temporarily  delivered  from  the  Infidels.  The  allies 
failed  to  make  a  treaty,  however,  and  the  Venetians  in 

1573  were  forced  to  yield  their  claims  to  Cyprus  and 
pay  a  large  tribute  to  the  Sultan,  thus  giving  the  same 
prestige  to  the  Turks  as  if  the  latter  had  been  victo- 
rious at  Lepanto.     This  was  the  close  of  the  era  of 
Venice's  greatness ;  though  later  in  the  seventeenth 
century  she  waged  effective  warfare  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean against  some  Bulgarian  pirates  called  the  Uscoc- 
chi.    In  1669,  after  a  siege  by  the  Turks  of  more  than 
twenty  years,  she  also  lost  the  island  of  Candia ;  but  in 


Age  of  Spanish  Rule  129 

1684  her  general  Morosini  conquered  the  whole  of  the 
Peloponnesus,  which  he  held  for  thirty  years. 

After  Morosini's  death,  however,  Venice  had  no 
part  in  the  Eastern  Empire  excepting  the  Ionian 
Islands ;  and  her  war  with  the  Infidels,  which  had  lasted 
with  some  interruptions  for  five  hundred  years,  did  not 
end  until  the  Peace  of  Passarowitz  in  1718.  She  was 
cut  off  from  trade  with  the  East  and  Egypt  through 
the  Red  Sea  by  the  success  of  the  Turks,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  lately  discovered  passage  round  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  destroyed  her  trade  overland 
with  the  Orient.  After  these  reverses  the  nobility 
sank  into  such  vices  as  gaming,  and  the  common  peo- 
ple were  left  in  the  grasp  of  the  Council  of  Ten.  Her 
decline,  however,  had  commenced  commercially  to- 
gether with  that  of  the  rest  of  Italy  at  the  time  of  the 
discovery  of  America;  since,  after  this,  people  had 
larger  power  of  development  and  the  traffic  of  the 
world  changed  ground.  Up  to  that  time  Italy  had 
monopolized  nearly  all  art  and  all  the  best  literature 
as  well  as  all  fashion  and  elegance.  The  principal 
street  in  London  was  called  Lombard  Street,  and 
Florentine  bankers  advanced  money  to  the  most 
powerful  princes  of  Europe.  Genoa  and  Venice  held 
mercantile  dominion  over  the  Mediterranean;  and  the 
styles  came  from  Milan ;  so  that  to  this  day  the  person 
who  trims  bonnets  is  called  a  milliner. 

From  this  epoch  the  Mediterranean  became  virtually 
only  a  large  lake,  and  but  for  the  Suez  Canal  com- 
merce would  be  almost  entirely  oceanic.  A  few  years 
ago,  when  Italy  observed  the  Centennial  in  honor  of 
Columbus  and  other  American  explorers,  she  is  said 
by  Italian  statesmen  to  have  celebrated  the  first  cause 
of  her  decadence. 


130         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    RISE    OF    THE    HOUSE    OF    SAVOY. — HER    DUKES. — 

CHARLES      EMANUEL    I.      THE      GREAT. EXCITEMENT 

ATTENDING    STRUGGLE    OF      SPANISH      SUCCESSION. 

MASANIELLO. ITALY'S      KINGDOMS,      DUCHIES      AND 

REPUBLICS     AT     NAPOLEON'S     INVASION. 
1574—1792  A.D. 

AT  the  time  of  the  Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  cele- 
brated between  France  and  Spain  in  1559,  there 
were  only  four  free  governments  in  Italy.  These  were 
Venice,  the  little  republic  of  San  Marino,  Genoa  and 
Lucca.  The  last  two  were  only  such  in  name,  since 
they  were  subjects  of  the  greatest  power  in  Italy,  the 
King  of  Spain,  who  ruled  Naples,  Sicily  and  the  island 
of  Sardinia  as  well  as  Florence  and  Milan.  There  was, 
however,  another  influence  spreading  in  a  remote  cor- 
ner of  Italy;  for  a  clause  in  the  Treaty  of  Cambresis 
recognized  the  right  of  Emanuel  Filibert,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  to  Piedmont.  It  was  his  family  which  three  cen- 
turies later  was  to  emancipate  and  reunite  the  whole  of 
Italy.  They  at  this  epoch  ruled  the  most  genuine  Ital- 
ian State  in  the  peninsula — Savoy,  which  was  formerly 
only  a  little  domain  in  the  valley  of  the  Savoyard, 
earlier  held  by  the  Counts  of  Maurienne.  This  diminu- 
tive estate  had  extended  its  territory  over  a  realm  of 
mountains,  ravines  and  forests  on  the  western  slope 
of  the  Alps,  and  continued  to  retain  the  same  name. 

The  most  famous  of  the  nobles  who  became  subjects 
of  Emperor  Conrad  when  Rudolph  III.,  King  of  Bur- 


Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  131 

gundy  died  in  1027,  had  been  Humbert,  Count  of  Bur- 
gundy, called  "  Humbert  of  the  White  Hand."  Some 
trace  his  lineage  back  to  the  Saxon  Wittekind,  and 
others  to  the  Margraf  of  Ivrea.  In  any  case  he  was 
fifth  in  descent  from  Boso  of  Provence.  He  had  re- 
ceived from  Rudolph  III.  the  counties  of  Savoy  and 
Maurienne,  and  by  the  marriage  of  Humbert's  son 
with  Adelaide,  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Turin,  Bur- 
gundy and  western  Lombardy  were  united,  their 
heirs  becoming  Counts  of  Savoy.  Little  by  little  they 
lost  their  possessions  on  the  French  side  of  the  Alps, 
but  gained  new  ones  in  Italy,  until  their  boundaries 
touched  the  Mediterranean  at  Savona.  In  the  thirteenth 
century  Savoy  became  influential  among  the  European 
countries,  since  the  daughter  of  one  of  her  counts  was 
the  mother  of  Margaret,  wife  of  Louis  IX.  of  France, 
of  Eleanor,  queen  of  Henry  III.  of  England,  and  of 
Beatrice,  wife  of  Charles  of  Sicily.  The  family 
divided  in  the  next  two  hundred  years,  its  elder  branch 
ruling  Savoy  and  the  northern  shores  of  the  Lake  of 
Geneva,  and  the  younger  division  holding  Piedmont, 
with  Turin  for  its  capital. 

The  Humberts  in  the  meantime  had  succeeded  the 
Amadeus,  and  the  Amadeus  the  Humberts,  one  after 
the  other  as  dukes.  They  were  always  engaged  in 
warfare  with  their  neighbors  up  to  the  time  of  Ama- 
deus VIII. ,  who  had  come  into  the  inheritance  of  the 
elder  line  in  1391 ;  and  in  1418  had  joined  Piedmont 
to  Savoy  and  received  the  title  of  duke  from  Em- 
peror Sigismund.  Amadeus  VIII.  vanquished  the 
Marquises  of  Montferrat  and  of  Saluzzo,  and  his 
kinsman,  the  Prince  of  Achaia,  his  three  most  effective 
antagonists.  He  annexed  Saluzzo  and  Chivasso  and 
received  Vercelli  from  Filippo  Maria  Visconti,  only 


132         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

being  checked  later  in  his  advance  on  Milan  by  Fran- 
cesco Sforza. 

Amadeus  VIII.  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
characters  of  his  day.  He  not  only  built  up  the  for- 
tunes of  his  house,  but,  through  it,  of  all  Italy.  A 
conspiracy  against  his  life,  together  with  other  causes, 
resulted  in  his  abdication  in  1434  in  favor  of  his  son 
Louis,  after  which  he  entered  a  cloister  as  a  priest. 
Later  he  became  anti-Pope  as  Felix  V.,  at  the  Council 
of  Basle,  in  place  of  Eugenius  IV. ;  but  he  resigned 
in  favor  of  Nicholas  V.  in  1449.  His  two  sons  mar- 
ried princesses  of  Cyprus;  afterwards  through  them 
the  Dukes  of  Savoy  claimed  the  title  of  Kings  of 
Cyprus.  In  the  time  of  Francis  I.  of  France  Savoy 
was  enfeebled  by  the  fickle  course  of  her  duke, 
Charles  III.  There  were  troubles  between  the  latter 
and  the  Imperial  City  of  Geneva,  which  revolted,  the 
nobles  of  Vaud  supporting  him  while  Berne,  Freiburg 
and  King  Francis  I.  adhered  to  Geneva. 

It  was  during  this  war  that  Bonnivard  was  kept 
confined  for  six  years  in  the  Castle  of  Chillon,  on 
account  of  having  dared  to  take  sides  against  Savoy. 
His  footprints  are  still  seen  worn  into  the  grim  stone 
pavement  in  the  dungeon  deep  down  below  the  castle. 
Lord  Byron  records  the  fact  most  pathetically  in  his 
"  Prisoner  of  Chillon." 

The  war  was  decided  in  favor  of  Geneva,  in  1536, 
after  which  the  French  took  away  the  larger  part  of 
Savoy's  territory.  Charles  V.,  who  had  helped  the 
Duke  at  first,  occupied  Piedmont,  while  Duke  Charles 
was  left  with  only  Nice.  Savoy  and  Piedmont  were 
the  center  of  much  of  the  strife  between  France  and 
Spain  in  the  sixteenth  century ;  and  when  Duke  Charles 
III.  died  in  1553,  his  son  Emanuel  Filibert,  styled  the 


Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  133 

"  Iron  Head "  and  the  "  Prince  with  a  Hundred 
Eyes,"  was  left  a  "  duke  without  a  duchy  " ;  but  this 
was  more  than  compensated  for  by  his  great  ability. 

The  "  Little  Cardinal,"  as  he  was  also  called,  be- 
cause as  a  younger  son  he  was  intended  for  the 
Church,  was  suddenly  raised  to  the  throne  by  the 
death  of  an  elder  brother.  A  Venetian  ambassador 
writes  of  him  as  follows :  "  In  Germany  he  is  re- 
garded as  a  German  on  account  of  his  descent  from 
the  Saxons.  The  Portuguese  claim  him  through  his 
Portuguese  mother;  and  the  French  consider  him  a 
Frenchman,  both  on  account  of  his  wife  and  his  sub- 
sequent relations  to  them ;  but  he  himself  is  an  Italian, 
and  wishes  to  be  looked  upon  as  such." 

Among  the  conspicuous  acts  of  Emanuel  Filibert 
was  his  bravery  at  the  Battle  of  St.  Quentin  in  1557. 
Here,  as  an  officer  in  the  army  of  his  cousin,  Philip 
II.  of  Spain,  he  distinguished  himself  when  the  French 
were  routed  by  that  monarch,  in  a  victory  giving  rise 
to  the  Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis.  He  now  married 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Francis  I.  and  sister  of  Henry 
II.  of  France;  and  in  1574  the  French  and  Spaniards 
ceded  to  him  the  places  which  had  been  kept  from  him 
at  the  Treaty  of  Cambresis,  with  the  exception  of 
Turin.  Afterwards,  he  devoted  himself  to  strengthen- 
ing the  kingdom  until  he  died  in  1580.  From  that 
time. the  Dukes  of  Savoy  became  Italians  instead  of 
Burgundians ;  and  the  capital  being  changed  from 
Chambery  to  Turin,  Piedmont  became  a  more  impor- 
tant factor  in  Italian  affairs  than  Savoy.  Emanuel 
Filibert  held  Nice,  Bresse,  and  other  territories  north- 
west of  the  Alps,  as  well  as  Savoy. 

Charles  Emanuel,  called  the  "  Great,"  succeeded  his 
father  Emanuel  Filibert ;  and,  in  order  to  gain  the  sup- 


134         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

port  of  Spain,  he  married  Catherine,  sister  of  King 
Philip  II.  of  Spain.  Venice  and  the  other  Italian 
powers,  jealous  of  the  Dukes  of  Savoy,  who  had  be- 
come some  of  the  most  notable  men  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  depended  upon  France  to  check  the  power  of 
Charles  Emanuel.  In  the  time  of  the  struggle  with 
the  Huguenots,  the  latter  joined  the  Catholic  League 
under  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  invaded  Provence,  lay- 
ing siege  to  Geneva.  When  Henry  III.  was  assassi- 
nated in  1589,  some  supported  the  claim  of  Charles 
Emanuel  to  the  throne  of  France  through  his  mother, 
who  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Francis  I. ;  but  after 
the  Battle  of  Ivry  Henry  of  Navarre  became  King 
of  France  as  Henry  IV.,  and  Charles  Emanuel  was 
required  to  give  up  Provence.  A  protracted  war 
ensued,  which  was  only  brought  to  a  close,  in  1601, 
by  the  Treaty  of  Lyons,  according  to  the  terms  of 
which  Charles  Emanuel  had  to  renounce  Provence  by 
giving  up  Bresse,  Bugey  and  Pays  de  Gex,  but  was 
allowed  to  keep  Saluzzo.  This  drove  the  French  out 
of  Italy  and,  giving  Charles  Emanuel  control  of  the 
French  side  of  the  Alps,  was  the  stepping-stone  which 
finally  made  the  future  rulers  of  Savoy  Italian  kings. 

During  the  fifty  years  of  Charles  Emanuel's  reign 
there  were  disputes  with  Spain  with  reference  to  Val- 
tellina,  which  has  only  belonged  to  Italy  since  1859, 
and  differences  about  the  Grisons,  still  a  part  of 
Switzerland,  Louis  XIII.  and  Venice  siding  with 
Charles  Emanuel  against  Philip  IV.  The  latter  as  well 
as  Philip  III.  had  always  coveted  this  territory  in 
order  to  insure  a  thoroughfare  between  Austria's  and 
Spain's  possessions  in  Italy.  In  the  course  of  this  war 
there  were  many  plots  against  the  oligarchy,  in  which 
the  people  of  Genoa  sought  the  aid  of  Charles  Eman- 


Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  135 

uel,  the  Vaschero  Conspiracy  being  one  of  them.  This 
was  similar  to  the  "  Conspiracy  of  the  Fieschi "  in 
1547,  which  well-nigh  extinguished  the  Doria  family 
in  Genoa.  Charles  Emanuel  also  had  aspirations  with 
reference  to  Montferrat,  but  this  was  given  to  France ; 
and,  when  Charles  died,  all  his  diplomacy  came  to 
naught  except  the  acquisition  of  a  few  places  on  the 
borders  of  Montferrat.  Casale,  with  a  fortress  built 
in  1090,  was  not  added  until  later. 

Christina,  the  wife  of  Victor  Amadeus  I.,  successor 
of  Charles  Emanuel  the  Great,  was  the  daughter  of 
Henry  IV.  of  France  and  the  mother  of  Charles 
Emanuel  II.,  who  commenced  to  reign  while  a  youth. 
Christina  was  also  the  sister  of  Louis  XIII.  On 
account  of  this  fact  Cardinal  Richelieu  had  a  great 
influence  over  her  husband,  Victor  Amadeus  I.,  forcing 
him  to  take  part  against  Spain;  and  this  influence 
continued,  after  the  king's  death,  during  Christina's 
regency.  Charles  Emanuel  II.  developed  influential 
traits  of  character,  and  under  him  the  princes  of  the 
House  of  Savoy  returned  to  their  allegiance  to  Spain ; 
and  the  trouble  of  the  two  nations  ended  by  the 
Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees  in  1659.  For  six  years,  with 
the  aid  of  the  Spanish,  Charles  Emanuel  II.  withstood 
the  despotism  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  under  him  Pied- 
mont acquired  much  military  renown. 

In  spite  of  promises  which  Charles  V.  and  his 
brother  Ferdinand  had  made,  the  viceroys  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Naples  often  imposed  unfair  assessments 
on  the  most  common  necessities  of  life.  In  1647,  on 
account  of  a  new  and  very  unjust  taxation,  Tomaso 
Aniello,  a  fishmonger,  called  Masaniello,  stirred  up 
the  whole  people  and,  putting  himself  at  their  head, 
gained  possession  of  the  government.  The  mob  burnt 


136         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  Custom  House  and  shut  up  the  Duke  of  Arcos, 
who  was  then  viceroy,  in  the  Castle  of  St.  Elmo  in 
Naples;  but  at  the  same  time  an  insurrection  in  Pa- 
lermo increased  the  danger  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
Duke  of  Arcos  was  able  to  take  advantage  of  it  and 
gain  over  the  principal  citizens. 

Although  Masaniello  was  nothing  but  a  common 
peasant,  he  possessed  wonderful  personal  magnetism, 
and  the  viceroy  was  obliged  to  combat  his  efforts  by 
strategy.  Accordingly  at  a  feast  he  drugged  him  with 
mixed  wine,  which  upset  his  balance  and  made  him  do 
such  extravagant  things  that  he  lost  his  influence ;  and 
the  insurrection  fell  to  pieces.  The  Neapolitans  had 
looked  upon  Masaniello  with  a  superstitious  regard, 
and  when  he  was  assassinated  they  lost  their  spirit, 
and  never  again  made  but  feeble  attempts  against 
Spanish  rule. 

The  French  under  Louis  XIV.  were  also  at  war  with 
Spain;  but,  in  1678,  Louis  made  peace  by  the  Treaty 
of  Nimwegen,  and,  having  withdrawn  his  forces,  he 
formed  an  alliance  with  Victor  Amadeus  II.,  Charles 
Emanuel  II. 's  successor,  ceding  the  fortress  of  Casale 
to  him ;  and  in  1684  Louis  made  Genoa  submit  under  a 
bombardment. 

The  peace  was  not  interrupted  for  twenty  years; 
but  the  ist  of  November,  1699,  Charles  II.  of  Spain 
died  and  in  his  will  Philip  of'Anjou,  grandnephew 
and  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  was  declared  heir  to  the 
Spanish  dominions,  with  the  title  of  Philip  V.  The 
right  to  the  throne  was  contested  by  Archduke  Charles, 
son  of  Leopold  of  Austria,  who,  through  his  mother, 
was  in  a  direct  descent,  both  she  and  the  grand- 
mother of  Philip  V,  being  daughters  of  Philip  IV. 

This  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession  raged  four- 


'Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  137 

teen  years  and  deluged  the  whole  continent  in  blood. 
The  Spanish  court  sent  orders  to  the  governors  of 
Naples,  Milan,  Sicily,  Sardinia  and  Tuscany,  to 
acknowledge  the  authority  of  Philip  V. ;  Victor  Ama- 
deus  II.  also  supported  the  latter,  who  was  his  son-in- 
law,  while  England,  Prussia  and  Holland  allied  them- 
selves with  Austria;  and  Italy  became  the  battle- 
ground of  the  French  and  Austrian  armies.  The 
united  efforts  of  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy  and  Marl- 
borough  drove  the  French  out  of  Lombardy  and 
Naples,  giving  the  prestige  to  the  Austrian  competitor, 
who  was  proclaimed  King  of  Spain  in  Vienna,  as 
Charles  III.  After  trying  two  years  to  establish  him- 
self in  Spain  as  their  ruler,  the  Archduke's  brother, 
Emperor  Joseph,  died,  and  the  former  was  elected 
Emperor  of  Austria  as  Charles  VI.  Now  all  parties, 
in  order  to  maintain  the  balance  of  power,  were  glad 
to  unite  on  the  7th  of  September  in  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht,  and  recognize  the  Bourbon,  Philip  V.,  as 
King  of  Spain,  on  condition  that  he  give  up  his  Ital- 
ian possessions  and  his  rights  to  the  crown  of 
France. 

Victor  Amadeus  II.,  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  gained 
Sicily,  Montferrat  and  Alessandria,  and  a  part  of 
Lombardy,  and  his  rights  as  an  independent  sovereign 
were  acknowledged.  The  Neapolitan  kingdom  and 
the  island  of  Sardinia,  the  Duchies  of  Milan  and 
Mantua,  all  passed  to  Austria.  The  Austrian  Charles 
also  hoped  to  gain  Tuscany  through  Anne,  the  wife 
of  the  Elector  Palatine  and  the  sister  of  Gian  Gastone, 
who  was  the  heir  and  had  no  children.  But  Philip 
V.,  when  his  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  Victor  Ama- 
deus II.  died,  had  married  Elizabeth  Farnese,  heiress 
of  the  Duke  of  Parma  and  Piacenza ;  and  through  her, 


138         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

who  was  also  descended  from  Cosimo  III.,  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Tuscany. 

In  defiance  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  Philip  V., 
under  the  influence  of  his  minister,  Alberoni,  took 
away  Sardinia  from  Austria  and  was  bargaining  for 
the  new  Kingdom  of  Sicily,  which  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  held  with  his  troops.  A  quadruple  alliance  was 
accordingly  formed  between  England,  France,  the 
United  Provinces  and  Charles  of  Austria  to  enforce 
the  Treaty  of  Utrecht;  and  because  Victor  Amadeus 
II.,  Duke  of  Savoy,  was  suspected  of  being  on  the  side 
of  Spain,  he  was  obliged  by  the  allied  powers  to  yield 
the  Kingdom  of  Sicily  to  Emperor  Charles  VI.,  re- 
ceiving in  return  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia.  Charles 
VI.  now  became  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  while  Sar- 
dinia, which  was  to  include  Savoy,  Piedmont  and  the 
island  of  Sardinia,  was  the  cradle  of  the  future  sov- 
ereigns of  united  Italy. 

Victor  Amadeus  II.'s  misfortune  in  having  to  ex- 
change the  fruitful  land  of  Sicily  for  the  unproductive 
Island  of  Sardinia  marks  an  important  epoch  in 
Italian  history;  for  had  he  still  kept  Sicily,  he  and  his 
heirs  would  in  all  probability  have  become  so  em- 
broiled in  the  succeeding  Spanish  and  Austrian  quar- 
rels that  their  independent  growth  would  have  been 
stunted  and  their  final  great  service  to  Italy  rendered 
impossible. 

In  1730  Victor  Amadeus  II.,  in  order  to  contract  a 
morganatic  marriage  with  the  Countess  of  San  Sebas- 
tiano,  gave  up  the  crown  to  his  son,  Charles  Emanuel 
III.  The  close  of  his  life  was  saddened  by  this  step; 
for  within  a  year  after  his  abdication  this  second  wife 
became  weary  of  their  obscure  and  monotonous  exist- 
ence in  the  fortress  of  Chambery,  and  influenced  him 


Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  139 

to  try  to  reclaim  his  possessions  and  dignities;  and 
accordingly  they  set  out  for  Turin.  Charles  Emanuel 
III.  reached  the  capital  before  his  father  and  upset 
these  plans;  but  Victor  Amadeus  II.  kept  instigating 
new  plots,  until  his  son  finally  had  him  put  in  prison 
in  the  Castle  of  Rivoli,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death  in  1732. 

In  1738  the  Treaty  of  Vienna  was  made  between 
Louis  XV.  of  France,  Philip  V.  of  Spain  and  Charles 
Emanuel  III.,  King  of  Sardinia,  for  the  purpose  of 
driving  the  Austrians  out  of  Italy  and  placing  Don 
Carlos,  son  of  Philip  V.,  on  the  throne  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  and  at  the  same  time  securing  Milan  to  Charles 
Emanuel.  At  the  close,  however,  France  and  Spain 
ignored  their  agreement  with  the  King  of  Sardinia, 
leaving  Milan  and  Mantua  to  Austria,  while  Spain 
received  Naples  and  Sicily.  Don  Carlos,  now  being 
acknowledged  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  gave  up  his 
claim  to  Tuscany  and  Parma,  and  Francis  of  Lor- 
raine, who  had  married  Maria  Theresa,  daughter  of 
Charles  VI.,  received  the  Grand  Duchy,  Gian  Gas- 
tone,  the  Medici  heir,  having  just  died.  Stanislaus 
Leszcynski,  the  father-in-law  of  Louis  XV.,  who  had 
long  been  struggling  in  vain  to  obtain  the  throne  of 
Poland,  received  Lorraine  from  the  Emperor. 

By  this  compromise,  what  was  called  the  War  of 
Polish  Succession  was  also  brought  to  a  close,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  power  of  Spain  was  re-established 
in  southern  Italy.  Charles  Emanuel  III.  was  ap- 
peased by  receiving,  as  an  extension  to  his  frontier, 
Novara  and  Tortona.  In  the  meantime  Don  Carlos 
had  become  King  of  Spain  by  the  death  of  Ferdinand 
VI.,  and  the  latter's  son  Ferdinand  became  King  of 
Naples.  Thus  one  power  after  another  kept  acquir- 


140         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

ing  and  ceding  back  the  different  parts  of  Italy,  until 
the  death  of  Charles  VI.  of  Austria,  which  resulted  in 
1740  in  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession. 

France,  Spain  and  Naples,  all  Bourbons,  now 
joined  with  Prussia,  Bavaria  and  the  King  of  Sar- 
dinia to  plunder  Maria  Theresa,  the  daughter  of 
Charles  VI.,  whom  Frederick  the  Great  was  harass- 
ing on  all  sides.  In  1742,  however,  the  King  of  Sar- 
dinia broke  away  from  his  union  with  the  Bourbons, 
into  which  he  had  entered  only  in  a  half-hearted  way, 
and  made  an  alliance  with  Maria  Theresa  on  condi- 
tion of  getting  back  Milan.  The  Genoese,  who  had 
kept  up  the  same  government  which  Andrea  Doria 
had  established  in  a  semi-independence,  were  now 
much  disturbed  at  the  union,  for  fear  Charles  Emanuel 
III.  would  absorb  their  city,  since  he  needed  a  way  to 
the  sea.  At  first  in  1745  Charles  Emanuel  III.  was 
defeated  by  the  French  and  Spanish,  and  the  victorious 
armies  were  allowed  to  pass  through  Genoa  on  their 
way  to  their  prospective  conquest  of  Milan ;  but  during 
the  same  year  Maria  Theresa's  husband,  Francis  of 
Lorraine,  was  elected  Emperor,  and,  a  truce  being  tem- 
porarily made  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  peace 
reigned  in  Europe. 

In  1746  the  King  of  Sardinia  and  the  Austrians 
defeated  the  French  and  Spaniards  in  a  great  battle 
under  the  walls  of  Piacenza,  the  city  being  given  up ; 
and  when  they  advanced  and  demanded  to  be  admitted 
to  Genoa,  which  was  the  key  to  the  two  Rivieras  and 
to  the  Island  of  Corsica,  the  Genoese  were  obliged 
to  open  their  gates ;  and  the  Austrian  leaders  per- 
fidiously treated  the  city  as  though  it  had  really  sur- 
rendered. But  when  the  Austrians  tried  to  force  the 
bystanders  with  blows  to  help  them  get  a  cannon  out 


Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  141 

of  the  underground  vaults,  where  it  had  fallen,  men 
women  and  children  formed  a  mob  and  with  stones 
and  other  missiles  obliged  the  Austrian  troops  to  quit 
the  city  and  retreat  beyond  the  Apennines.  Although 
Genoa's  power  continued  in  the  hands  of  an  oligarchy 
until  Napoleon's  time,  the  activity  of  her  people  and 
her  importance  as  a  seaport  insured  her  commercial 
prosperity. 

The  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession  ended  after 
seven  years,  in  1748,  at  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
Austria  retained  Milan  and  Mantua,  which  had  been 
absorbed  into  the  Duchy  of  Milan;  but  Francis  of 
Lorraine  gave  up  Tuscany,  which  had  become  prac- 
tically an  Austrian  province.  The  republic  of  Genoa 
and  the  Duchy  of  Modena  were  given  to  France, 
as  a  Protectorate.  Genoa  was  allowed  possession  of 
the  two  Rivieras,  but  was  obliged  to  give  up  Corsica 
to  Louis  XV.,  who  afterwards  brought  the  island 
into  subjection.  Parma  was  surrendered  to  Don 
Philip,  brother  of  the  real  Charles  III.  of  Spain.  This 
small  principality,  together  with  Piacenza  and  Guas- 
tilla,  had  been  taken  from  Austria  by  Spain  in  1745 
and  restored  to  her  in  1746;  and  now  they  continued 
to  belong  to  Spain  until  the  Napoleonic  era. 

For  forty  years  after  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
Italy  was.  at  peace  and  little  happened  worthy  of 
notice.  Whatever  religion  there  was,  had  degenerated 
into  superstition.  Popular  education  was  discour- 
aged and  there  was  no  progressive  spirit  among  the 
people.  Tuscany,  however,  under  Francis  I.'s  son, 
afterwards  Leopold  II.,  enjoyed  exceptional  independ- 
ence and  prosperity.  The  latter  did  much  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  duchy  by  reforms  in  finance,  by 
wise  administration  of  criminal  law,  by  the  abolition 


142          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  the  Inquisition,  and  a  much  needed  restraint  of  the 
clergy.  He  also  redeemed  much  land  which  wars  and 
neglect  by  the  people  had  allowed  to  degenerate  into 
swamps  and  marshes,  and  restored  the  Maremma  and 
the  valley  of  the  Arno  and  Paglia  to  something  of  their 
former  fertility.  His  memory  is  still  cherished  with 
gratitude  in  Tuscany,  and  he  is  justly  regarded  as  the 
most  distinguished  of  the  early  liberal  Italian  rulers. 
Under  his  second  son,  Ferdinand,  the  excellent  prince 
who  succeeded  him  in  1790,  Tuscany  continued  happy 
and  prosperous  until  Napoleon's  time. 

Charles  Emanuel  III.  was  alike  a  great  general,  a 
wary  politician  and  an  illustrious  king.  Although 
after  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  he  engaged  in  no 
wars,  he  strengthened  himself  in  his  Alpine  bounda- 
ries by  a  line  of  magnificent  fortresses  and  kept  up 
such  an  efficient  military  force  that  he  was  ready  to 
take  the  field  at  any  moment  with  an  army  of  forty 
thousand  men  well  disciplined  in  the  modern  science 
of  war.  Like  the  rest  of  the  rulers  of  Italy,  he  en- 
tertained Frederick  the  Great's  conception  of  the  right 
of  kings,  and  was  a  "  mild  despot " ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  followed  out  his  father's  wise  policy.  There 
were  twenty  thousand  priests  and  twelve  thousand 
monks  at  that  time  in  the  province  of  Piedmont  alone. 
Accordingly  he  felt  it  necessary  to  diminish  the 
strength  and  wealth  of  the  Church,  lest  it  should  over- 
shadow his  own  power;  but,  notwithstanding  his  dip- 
lomatic character,  he  was  not  sufficiently  progressive 
to  advance  education. 

The  court  of  Charles  Emanuel  was  carried  on  with 
the  same  ceremony  as  Versailles.  Over  three  hundred 
courtiers  surrounded  the  king  and  the  yearly  expendi- 
ture was  more  than  two  million  liras.  In  accordance 


Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  143 

with  the  ideas  of  that  age  of  absolutism,  the  sovereign 
demanded  entire  subservience  from  all  the  nobility, 
in  even  the  most  trifling  personal  matters.  Turin, 
Charles  Emanuel's  capital,  was  then  considered  by 
the  French  "  the  most  beautiful  village  in  the  world," 
and  from  that  time  it  has  kept  its  reputation  for  being 
one  of  the  most  stately  cities  of  northern  Italy. 

Victor  Amadeus  II.  had  said  that  "  Italy  was  like  an 
artichoke,  which  had  to  be  eaten  leaf  by  leaf."  The 
Dukes  of  Savoy  had  first  consumed  Piedmont,  and  then 
Sardinia,  and  in  this  way  established  the  Kingdom  of 
Sardinia,  the  nest  egg  of  the  future  United  Kingdom 
of  Italy.  They  then  went  on  absorbing  contiguous 
territory,  until  after  the  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in 
1748,  when  their  frontier  extended  to  Lake  Maggiore 
and  the  River  Ticino,  and  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia 
included  nine  thousand  square  miles.  In  its  three 
provinces  there  were  three  million  inhabitants,  with  a 
revenue  of  fourteen  million  dollars. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  many  moral  and 
intellectual  Popes  had  followed  in  succession;  but  in 
former  times  the  States  qf  the  Church  had  been 
governed  so  badly  and  the  expenses  of  the  Holy  See  in 
keeping  up  their  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  dignity 
had  been  so  great,  that  the  Popes  were  obliged  to  tax 
the  necessities  of  life;  accordingly  the  poor  had  been 
kept  down  and  were  always  in  destitution.  Thus,  much 
time  was  required  to  remedy  the  defects  of  institutions 
which  had  debarred  all  intellectual  progress  and  had 
kept  the  people  in  ignorance.  The  enlightenment  which 
now  prevailed  in  all  the  European  nations  had  also 
threatened  to  undermine  Papal  power  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  the  policy  of  the  Popes  had  necessarily 
become  that  of  throwing  their  influence  on  the  side  of 


144          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  most  powerful,  while  appearing  to  be  neutral.  In 
1769,  however,  Clement  XIV.  had  the  courage  to  sup- 
press the  Order  of  Jesuits,  who  by  their  dark  dealings 
had  gained  the  odium  of  Western  Europe. 

Among  other  reforms  in  the  Papal  States,  Pope 
Pius  VI.  tried  to  restore  the  Campagna,  which  had 
depreciated  into  an  unhealthy  marsh,  imperiling  the 
lives  of  the  inhabitants  for  centuries.  At  the  time  of 
the  accession  of  Pius  VI.,  in  1775,  the  population  of 
the  Papal  States  was  two  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand, and  their  army  numbered  five  thousand.  This 
territory  covered  an  area  of  seventeen  thousand  square 
miles,  with  a  revenue  of  nine  million  dollars.  It  ex- 
tended as  far  south  as  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  and  as 
far  north  as  the  Po,  while  it  was  bounded  on  the  west 
by  the  Mediterranean  and  on  the  east  by  Tuscany 
and  Modena.  The  remarkable  visit  of  Pius  VI.  to  the 
Court  of  Vienna  to  interview  Emperor  Joseph  II.  in 
order  to  arrest  his  reforms  is  a  memorable  event  in 
history.  Although  he  was  received  with  due  respect, 
he  accomplished  nothing. 

Charles  VII.  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  afterwards  Charles 
III.  of  Spain,  Don  Carlos  as  he  was  called,  had  done 
a  great  deal  for  the  institutions  of  Naples.  He 
adorned  it  most  tastefully  and  brought  from  Parma, 
which  he  also  held,  many  artistic  treasures  of  the 
Farnese  family.  Some  of  these  are  to  be  seen  to-day 
in  the  Neapolitan  Museum,  together  with  others  taken 
from  the  Farnese  Palace  in  Rome,  the  "  Farnese 
Flora  "  and  the  "  Hercules  "  being  among  the  number. 
The  "Farnese  Bull,"  also  seen  in  Naples,  a  Greek 
work  of  art  from  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  is  one  of 
the  finest  sculptures  in  the  world. 

When  Don  Carlos  succeeded  to  the  Spanish  throne 


Rise  of  the  House  of  Savoy  145 

as  Charles  III.  he  gave  Naples  to  his  third  son, 
Ferdinand  IV.,  a  boy  of  nine  years  of  age,  thus  making 
it  a  province  of  Spain.  Charles  III.  is  remembered 
with  more  pride  by  the  Spanish  than  any  other  sove- 
reign after  Philip  II.  He  finally  established  in  Spain 
the  Bourbon  rule,  which  was  kept  up  with  few  inter- 
ruptions until  1861.  The  three  Bourbon  monarchs, 
Philip  V.,  Ferdinand  VI.  and  Charles  III.,  whose 
methods  were  the  same  as  those  of  Richelieu  and 
Mazarin,  raised  Spain  from  the  lethargy  which  had 
held  it  all  through  the  seventeenth  century. 

Victor  Amadeus  III.  succeeded  Charles  Emanuel 
III.,  and  in  his  reign  the  French  Revolution  burst 
upon  Europe  in  a  great  tempest  of  war.  At  this  time 
Ferdinand  IV.  of  Naples  had  just  married  Maria 
Caroline  of  Austria,  sister  of  Marie  Antoinette;  and 
the  former  exerted  a  baleful  influence  all  through  the 
Revolutionary  troubles.  The  Duchess  of  Tuscany 
was  also  a  sister  of  Marie  Antoinette,  and  accordingly 
the  Austrian  rulers  were  in  favor  of  the  royal  party 
in  Naples.  It  was  the  same  in  the  little  Duchy  of 
Modena,  where  the  only  daughter  of  Hercules  III., 
Beatrice,  had  wed  Ferdinand,  one  of  the  Archdukes 
of  Austria,  and  Hercules  himself  had  married  an  elder 
sister  of  Marie  Antoinette. 

Lombardy  was  now  thoroughly  organized  into  a 
duchy,  with  Milan  for  its  capital,  and  annexed  to 
Austria;  and  Venice,  after  her  innumerable  struggles 
with  Turks  and  Spaniards,  had  fallen  into  effeminacy. 
The  city  was  still  governed  by  a  Council  of  all  the 
noble  citizens  who  were  of  age  and  was  presided  over 
by  a  Doge ;  and  out  of  three  million  inhabitants  only 
twenty-five  hundred  were  entitled  to  the  rights  of 
citizenship. 


146          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

This  brief  review  of  the  situation  indicates  the  con- 
dition of  Italy  when  the  French  Revolution  roused 
the  people  all  over  Europe  from  despair  into  a  wild 
frenzy.  It  shows  the  subjection  of  the  Two  Sicilies 
and  Parma  to  Spanish  rule,  and  how  the  Duchies  of 
Lombardy,  Modena  and  Piacenza  were  subject  to 
Austria;  also  that  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Tuscany  was 
Austrian,  and  that  Venice  and  Genoa  were  just  sup- 
porting a  semi-independent  existence,  the  latter  having 
given  up  Corsica  to  France.  The  States  of  the 
Church  were  still  occupied  in  trying  to  aggrandize, 
and  the  little  republic  of  Lucca  now  belonged  to 
Tuscany.  This  state  of  affairs  shows  us  the  Kingdom 
of  Sardinia  with  the  only  really  vigorous  territory  in 
all  the  Italian  peninsula,  except  the  little  republic  of 
San  Marino,  all  the  others  but  Genoa  and  Venice  being 
under  Austria  or  Spain.  At  that  time  not  one  Italian 
State  was  subject  to  France. 

Strangely  enough,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  confu- 
sion science  and  literature  had  somewhat  revived 
during  the  century.  Alessandro  Volta,  a  native  of 
Como,  had  discovered  the  theory  of  galvanism  by  con- 
tact, and  in  1800  invented  the  voltaic  pile,  while  the 
Piedmontese  count,  Alfieri,  had  brought  out  his  first 
volumes  glowing  with  patriotism.  These,  dwelling  as 
they  did  on  the  idea  of  a  new  Italy,  caused  the  people 
to  reflect  on  their  ancient  glory  and  aroused  an  ab- 
horrence in  them  for  tyrants  and  a  hope  of  freedom. 


Napoleon  in  Italy  147 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ABSORPTION  OF  ITALY  BY  NAPOLEON. — FORMATION 

OF    HIS   REPUBLICS. ENTHUSIASM    OF    ITALY   FOR 

NAPOLEON'S  INSTITUTIONS. — ITALY  RESTORED  IN 
NAPOLEON'S  ABSENCE  IN  EGYPT. — BATTLE  OF  MA- 
RENGO. — EXCAVATIONS  OF  ROMAN  RUINS  IN  NAPO- 
LEON'S  TIME. 

1792—1812  A.D. 

AT  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Bourbon 
rule  seemed  about  to  end  in  Italy;  but  after  the 
Revolution  all  the  despotic  governments  in  Europe 
were  alarmed  lest  the  example  of  the  French  in  estab- 
lishing a  written  Constitution  should  be  followed. 
Therefore  they  united  to  put  down  constitutional  liberty 
and  once  more  restore  the  Bourbon  family  to  power. 

Soon  after  1792  the  French  invaded  Savoy ;  but  for 
nearly  four  years  after,  the  turmoil  at  home  absorbed 
their  entire  attention,  the  First  Coalition,  consisting 
of  all  the  despotisms  of  Europe,  having  in  the  mean- 
time been  formed.  In  1795  the  new  French  govern- 
ment sent  an  army  across  the  Alps  and  the  masses  of 
the  Italian  people,  hoping  thereby  to  drive  out  the 
Austrians,  welcomed  it  heartily.  Savoy,  glad  to  avail 
herself  of  the  chance  to  escape  from  the  Kingdom  of 
Sardinia,  threw  herself  upon  the  French,  who  rejoic- 
ing said:  "The  Alps  bid  France  welcome  Savoy." 
Piedmont,  however,  was  forced  by  the  Austrians  to 
assist  in  levying  forty  thousand  troops  to  help  make 


148          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

up  one  of  the  armies  of  the  First  Coalition,  which  was 
either  to  attack  the  invaders  or  to  enter  France  when 
the  Prussians  on  the  Rhine  should  have  drawn  away 
the  French  army  in  that  direction. 

In  1796  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the  Corsican,  was 
made  commander  of  the  French  troops.  He  was  then 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  slender  in  form  and  almost 
as  delicate  as  a  girl  in  appearance.  The  condition  of 
Italy  furnished  an  unbounded  field  for  ambition,  and 
the  manner  in  which  Napoleon  was  received  by  the 
restless  people,  longing  for  freedom,  was  no  doubt  the 
keynote  of  his  phenomenal  success  and  unprecedent- 
edly  great  career. 

The  small  force  of  forty  thousand  men  with  which 
he  was  furnished  were  badly  equipped  soldiers  of  the 
Revolution,  more  like  the  mercenary  bands  of  the 
Middle  Ages  than  a  regular  army.  They  were  half 
starved  and  freezing  and  lived  on  half  rations  taken 
from  the  mouths  of  the  peasants  already  impoverished 
by  constant  warfare.  The  officers  received  only  a 
dollar  and  a  half  a  day  and  were  obliged  to  go  on 
foot,  since  the  cavalry  horses  had  succumbed  to  the 
rigors  of  the  climate. 

This  meager  force  Napoleon  posted  along  the  ridges 
of  the  Mont  Cenis  and  Little  St.  Bernard  in  the  face 
of  the  Austrian  troops  awaiting  his  advance  in  the 
rich  plains  of  Italy. 

Napoleon  was  at  first  received  with  suspicion  by  his 
soldiers  and  with  open  hostility  by  the  generals  in 
command,  who  disliked  being  placed  under  an  inex- 
perienced youth.  By  his  wonderful  genius,  however, 
he  overcame  all  difficulties  and  soon  gained  the  love 
of  those  who  had  tried  to  circumvent  him,  this  love 
soon  growing  into  something  like  idolatry.  Napoleon 


Napoleon  in  Italy 


149 


now  began  to  develop  a  remarkable  series  of  military 
tactics,  which  transformed  his  meager  forces  into  an 
army  intoxicated  with  victory. 

After  a  thorough  study  of  the  country,  and  with 


Longitude  East     12         from  Greenwich 


matured  plans,  Napoleon  on  the  I2th  of  April,  1796, 
commenced  that  first  campaign,  which  continues  to 
excite  the  admiration  of  the  world.  He  addressed  his 


150         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

men  with  great  eloquence,  praising  them  for  the 
courage  and  patience  which  they  had  exhibited  on  the 
barren  ledges,  at  the  same  time  reminding  them  that 
they  had  not  yet  been  tried  in  regular  army  service. 
He  told  them  that  he  was  about  to  lead  them  into 
luxurious  plains  where,  if  they  would  press  heroically 
on,  they  would  find  rich  provinces,  great  cities  and 
glory  awaiting  them. 

From  the  time  of  the  first  encounter  the  genius  of 
the  leader  and  the  valor  of  the  soldiers  were  alike 
evident.  By  the  1st  of  May  the  Austrians  were  driven 
out  of  the  kingdom  and  the  King  of  Sardinia,  Victor 
Amadeus  III.,  was  forced  to  make  terms  with 
Napoleon,  renouncing  Nice  and  Savoy  as  well  as  Tor- 
tona  and  Alessandria  on  the  Italian  side,  and  giving 
up  several  fortresses  of  Piedmont.  He  was  also 
obliged  to  grant  Napoleon  passage  through  his  do- 
mains. 

After  the  Austrians  were  driven  out  they  retreated 
into  Lombardy  and,  on  the  Qth  of  May,  the  Battle  of 
Lodi  was  fought,  bringing  the  whole  of  Lombardy 
under  Napoleon's  sway.  This  fulfilled  a  promise  made 
to  his  men  that  in  a  month's  time  the  enemy  should 
be  at  their  feet.  He  entered  Milan  the  I5th  of  May, 
1796,  at  the  location  of  the  present  Triumphal  Arch, 
built  afterwards  in  1804  as  the  terminus  of  the  Sim- 
plon  route.  It  is  almost  the  duplicate  of  the  Arch  of 
Triumph  in  Paris,  begun  two  years  later,  only  that  it 
is  smaller. 

Napoleon  now  issued  a  proclamation  telling  his 
soldiers  that  the  standard  of  the  French  republic 
waved  over  the  whole  of  Lombardy,  and  that  the 
Dukes  of  Parma  and  Modena  only  existed  through  his 
courtesy.  He  said :  "  To  you  will  belong  the  glory 


Napoleon  in  Italy  151 

of  replacing  the  statues  of  heroes  who  have  rendered 
Rome  immortal  and  of  rousing  the  Romans  who  have 
become  enslaved."  And  indeed  it  was  a  fact  that  the 
Duke  of  Parma  had  already  compromised  by  paying 
a  heavy  indemnity,  and  giving  up  twenty  of  the  best 
works  of  art;  while  the  Duke  of  Modena  had  de- 
serted his  subjects,  taking  his  art  treasures  to  Venice 
with  him.  The  Austrians  at  Mantua  had  at  the  same 
time  withdrawn  to  the  Tyrol,  passing  through  Venice 
on  the  way. 

These  movements  inspired  the  Italian  republicans 
with  great  enthusiasm,  and  they  hailed  Napoleon  as  the 
regenerator  of  Italy.  The  King  of  Naples  solicited  an 
armistice,  and  withdrew  from  the  First  Coalition ;  and 
Napoleon  was  soon  able  to  bring  the  Pope  to  sue  for 
peace,  at  the  same  time  occupying  with  his  army 
Bologna,  Ferrara  and  Ravenna,  territory  belonging  to 
His  Holiness.  Reggio  and  Modena  revolted  from  the 
Italian  governors  placed  over  them  and  were  formed 
into  a  provincial  government,  which,  united  to  Bologna 
and  Ferrara,  made  up  Napoleon's  first  Italian  State, 
called  the  Cispadane  republic,  with  Bologna  for  its 
capital;  and  in  less  than  a  month  all  the  powers  in 
central  Italy  in  favor  of  Austria  were  compelled  to 
abandon  their  allegiance. 

The  Austrians,  notwithstanding  this,  were  gather- 
ing an  overwhelming  army  in  the  north  to  pour  down 
upon  Napoleon's  forces;  and,  although  weakened  by 
service,  they  were  threatening,  with  the  aid  of  English 
financial  support,  to  make  the  situation  very  critical 
for  Napoleon.  The  Battles  of  Arcola  and  Rivoli, 
however,  fought  in  1796,  resulted  in  a  crushing  defeat 
for  the  Austrians,  who  retired  to  Verona. 

When  Napoleon  entered  Modena  the  people  eagerly 


152          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

demanded  his  aid  in  setting  up  republican  institutions, 
while  the  populace  in  the  Papal  States,  which  he  had 
already  taken,  received  him  with  overwhelming  effu- 
sion. The  Pope  was  alarmed,  since  he  saw  that 
Napoleon  was  doing  everything  to  create  a  sentiment 
in  favor  of  freedom  and  to  impress  the  people  with  the 
idea  that  his  mission  was  not  to  destroy,  but  to  dissem- 
inate liberty  and  enlightenment. 

Napoleon  proceeded  to  annihilate  the  British  fleet 
then  holding  Leghorn.  This  was  a  seaport  which  the 
Medici  had  built  up  in  the  sixteenth  century  by  erect- 
ing warehouses,  building  fortified  harbors,  and  inviting 
commercial  people  to  settle  there.  The  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany  sided  with  France,  and  was  now  so  de- 
lighted to  see  the  English  driven  off,  and  so  desirous 
of  conciliating  the  rising  great  general,  that  he  enter- 
tained Napoleon  magnificently.  It  was  of  no  use,  how- 
ever, for  he,  with  the  others,  finally  had  to  submit  to 
the  conqueror  and  go. 

After  successive  victories  Napoleon  repulsed  the 
Archduke  Charles,  brother  of  Francis  II.,  at  Taglia- 
mento,  and  the  Austrians  were  compelled  to  treat  at 
Loeben  on  the  i8th  of  April,  1797.  Napoleon  was  in- 
censed against  Verona  on  account  of  an  insurrection 
known  as  the  Pasqua  Veronese,  in  which  the  French 
garrison  had  been  massacred,  and  also  because  the 
Veronese  had  sheltered  Louis  XVIII.  The  Venetians 
also  had  offended  him  by  offering  an  asylum  to  the 
Austrians,  and  Napoleon  made  all  this  a  pretext  for 
extinguishing  the  Venetian  republic.  Accordingly 
on  the  1 2th  of  May,  1797,  with  the  permission  of  the 
Austrians,  who  had  already  surrendered,  he  appeared 
before  the  city  of  Venice.  Their  Doge,  Luigi  Manini, 
being  paralyzed  with  fear,  the  Grand  Council  sur- 


Napoleon  in  Italy  153 

rendered  their  authority  without  resistance  and  the 
oligarchy  fell.  Her  galleys  were  destroyed,  and  the 
"  Golden  Book,"  in  which  were  enrolled  the  names  of 
all  the  Doges,  was  burned,  while  "  the  bronze  horses 
which  Enrico  Dandolo  had  brought  from  Constanti- 
nople and  Luciano  Doria  had  sworn  he  would  bridle," 
were  carried  off  to  Paris. 

During  a  general  revolt  in  Genoa,  which  took  place 
in  May,  1797,  the  French  frigate  was  captured  and 
many  families  who  were  loyal  to  the  French  were  sent 
into  exile.  Napoleon  came  to  their  rescue,  however, 
and  put  down  the  revolt.  The  Genoese  government 
then  had  to  pay  an  indemnity  for  the  frigate  destroyed 
and  to  recall  the  banished  French  families.  A  re- 
publican Constitution  was  set  up,  modeled  after  the 
French  republic,  and  later  was  called  the  Ligurian 
republic.  The  Anconian  republic  was  soon  instituted 
in  the  same  manner. 

At  the  peace  of  Campo-Formio,  in  October,  1797, 
hostilities  between  Austria  and  France  were  sus- 
pended. Lombardy,  Parma,  Modena,  the  Papal  States 
of  Bologna,  Ferrara  and  Romagna,  were  given  up, 
and  the  Venetian  territory  to  the  Adige  boundary  was 
inaugurated  into  the  Cisalpine  republic,  in  which 
the  Cispadine  republic  was  absorbed.  Napoleon's 
other  republics  in  central  Italy  were  added  the  year 
after.  To  pacify  the  Austrians  for  the  territory  they 
had  surrendered,  the  Venetian  cities  were  again  given 
over  to  them,  the  Austrian  government  being  set  up 
on  the  Adriatic  the  next  year.  Notwithstanding  that 
this  dishonorable  treatment  of  Venice,  together  with 
similar  proceedings  in  other  parts  of  Italy,  contra- 
dicted the  promises  held  out  by  Napoleon,  the  terms 
which  the  Austrians  were  obliged  to  make  at  Campo 


154         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Formio  modified  the  condition  of  the  Italian  States 
ever  after;  since  from  the  Cisalpine  republic  flatter- 
ing ideas  of  liberty  spread  in  every  direction,  and 
from  the  reforms  established  by  Napoleon's  free  in- 
stitutions the  principle  of  equal  rights  was  dissemi- 
nated. 

The  capital  of  the  Cisalpine  republic  was  Milan, 
and  its  Legislature  consisted  of  a  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  every  respectable  and  self-sup- 
porting man  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  being  entitled 
to  the  right  of  citizenship. 

On  leaving  Italy  in  1798,  before  his  Egyptian  cam- 
paign, Napoleon  exhorted  the  people  to  hold  fast  the 
liberty  he  had  worked  out  and  to  prove  themselves 
deserving  of  the  good  fortune  awaiting  them. 

Napoleon's  success  so  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
Italian  patriots  that  they  gladly  supported  the  troops 
with  which  France  had  armed  their  fortresses;  and 
thus  the  new  republic  was  strengthened  against  the 
powerful  monarchies  of  Europe,  which  were  anxious 
lest  little  by  little  the  whole  country  should  be  revolu- 
tionized. England  was  so  alarmed  because  her  lower 
classes  sympathised  with  Napoleon's  republican 
movement,  that  she  resolved  to  do  her  utmost  to  anni- 
hilate the  French  republics  and  restore  the  Bourbon 
governments;  and  even  in  Italy  the  more  conservative 
saw  that  it  was  Napoleon's  aim  to  establish,  not  Italian, 
but  French  republics  in  the  peninsula,  and  recognized 
that  the  taxes  for  his  glorious  victories  must  be  paid 
by  them. 

Pius  VI.,  thinking  that  the  Austrians  were  sure  to 
conquer  in  the  end,  was  recreant  to  his  pledges  given 
to  Napoleon;  accordingly,  during  1797,  the  latter  en- 
tered the  Papal  States  and,  besides  making  the  Pope 


Napoleon  in  Italy  155 

pay  a  large  sum  of  money,  he  compelled  him  to  give 
up  the  cities  of  Avignon  and  Vennais,  in  addition  to 
the  towns  already  surrendered.  Revolutions  encour- 
aged by  the  French  also  arose,  and  the  Romans  to 
retaliate  attacked  the  French  embassy.  After  this,  on 
the  27th  of  November,  1798,  Napoleon  entered  the 
Holy  City  and  proclaimed  the  Tiberine  republic, 
announcing  that  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  had 
fallen.  Pope  Pius  VI.  was  seized,  the  Vatican  plun- 
dered and  its  art  treasures  sent  to  Paris.  The  Pope 
was  exiled  to  France,  where  he  died  at  Valence  in 
1799. 

Not  long  after  this  Ferdinand  of  Naples,  excited 
by  the  idea  of  Nelson's  victories  over  Napoleon's 
forces  in  Egypt,  thought  he  was  strong  enough  to 
defy  France  and  re-establish  the  Pope,  especially  as 
Napoleon  himself  had  left  for  Egypt  in  the  May  of 
1798.  Accordingly,  during  November  Ferdinand  oc- 
cupied Rome  with  an  army  of  sixty  thousand;  but 
the  French  soon  returned  and,  having  routed  the  Nea- 
politans in  several  battles,  they  drove  them  back  to 
their  kingdom.  King  Ferdinand  took  refuge  with 
Lord  Nelson's  fleet,  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Naples, 
and  afterwards  retired  to  Sicily.  The  republicans 
now  admitted  the  French  into  Naples,  where,  in  1799, 
the  Parthenopean  republic  was  set  up. 

The  last  sovereign  in  Italy  to  yield  his  kingdom  to 
Napoleon  was  Charles  Emanuel  IV.,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Victor  Amadeus  III.;  but  the  French  had 
gradually  worked  their  way  into  Piedmont,  and,  having 
taken  possession  in  1798,  they  obliged  Charles  Emanuel 
IV.  to  give  up  his  throne  and  withdraw  to  the  island 
of  Sardinia,  since,  although  professing  friendship  for 
the  French,  he  was  suspected  of  treachery;  and  they 


156          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

did  not  dare  to  leave  the  key  to  the  Alps  in  the  hands 
of  a  recognized  hostile  power.  In  1802  this  unfortu- 
nate king  entered  a  Jesuit  monastery,  where  he  re- 
mained until  his  death.  His  son,  Victor  Emanuel  L, 
succeeded  him  that  year  as  ruler  of  the  island  of  Sar- 
dinia. Piedmont  was  at  the  same  time  annexed  to 
France,  and,  together  with  all  the  other  continental 
possessions  of  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia,  belonged  to 
that  nation  for  twelve  years. 

Soon  after  this  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  was 
forced  to  flee  to  Austria,  and  thus  the  whole  of  the 
Italian  peninsula,  except  the  Duchy  of  Parma,  Pia- 
cenza,  Venice  and  the  little  republic  of  San  Marino, 
was  in  the  power  of  the  French. 

When  Napoleon  sailed  for  Egypt,  England,  Austria, 
Russia,  Turkey  and  Naples  engaged  in  a  Second 
Coalition ;  and  early  in  1799  General  Suwaroff,  with  a 
strong  army  of  Russians  and  Austrians,  entered  Lom- 
bardy.  The  French  were  obliged  to  retire  to  Genoa, 
where  they  were  blockaded  by  an  English  fleet;  and 
after  a  succession  of  great  victories  on  the  part  of  the 
allies  the  French  republics  on  the  peninsula  were 
overthrown.  The  Bourbons  in  Naples,  encouraged  by 
this,  were  guilty  of  great  cruelties  against  those  who 
tried  to  defend  themselves.  Lord  Nelson  returned 
with  the  King  and  Queen  of  Naples,  and,  in  spite  of 
their  capitulation,  he  had  the  French  chained  in  pairs 
in  the  dungeon  of  his  warships.  Many  of  the  peo- 
ple, worn  out  by  persecution,  voluntarily  exiled  them- 
selves in  France,  and  carried  the  idea  of  liberty  with 
them,  among  them  being  Botta,  the  historian.  The 
more  humane  king,  shocked  at  such  barbarities,  re- 
turned to  Sicily,  leaving  his  wife  to  administer  affairs, 
in  company  with  Lady  Hamilton,  who  had  com- 


Napoleon  in  Italy  157 

plete  control  over  her.  Queen  Caroline  is  said  to 
have  been  brought  to  encourage  these  outrages  against 
those  who  sympathized  with  the  French  on  account 
of  the  late  execution  of  her  sister  Marie  Antoinette. 
Nelson  has  been  greatly  criticised  on  account  of  his 
harsh  conduct  at  that  time. 

The  Battles  of  Verona,  Novi  and  Trebbia  well-nigh 
exterminated  the  French  troops  in  Italy,  the  few  that 
remained  finding  hiding-places  in  the  Alps.  Some  of 
the  old  governments  in  Italy  were  restored,  and  a 
new  Pope,  Pius  VII.,  was  appointed  and  installed  in 
Rome;  and,  besides  this,  the  other  powers  were 
threatening  to  invade  France  itself.  The  allied  armies 
were  already  assembling  on  the  frontier  of  the  Rhine, 
while  everywhere  at  sea  the  French  had  been  worsted 
by  the  English ;  and  even  in  France  itself  the  people 
were  trying  to  upset  the  government. 

Napoleon,  however,  returned  from  Egypt  on  the 
9th  of  October,  and  on  the  9th  of  November,  1799 
(i8th  Brumaire),  proceeded  to  overthrow  the  Direc- 
tory. On  the  27th  of  the  same  month  he  made  him- 
self First  Consul.  England  and  Austria,  however,  re- 
fused to  make  terms  unless  France  would  agree  to 
establish  the  Bourbon  dynasty.  After  the  allied 
armies  on  the  Rhine  were  forced  to  retire,  Napoleon, 
having  brought  an  army  of  sixty-five  thousand  men 
together  at  Dijon,  commenced  new  operations  to  re- 
cover Italy.  The  passage  over  the  Great  St.  Bernard, 
was  accomplished  between  the  i6th  and  2Oth  of  May, 
1800,  with  extreme  difficulty,  each  man  having  to  lead 
his  horse  by  the  bridle  on  the  brink  of  the  precipices; 
but  when  they  arrived  at  the  summit  completely  ex- 
hausted, the  monks  at  the  hospice  provided  the  soldiers 
with  refreshment. 


158          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

On  the  I4th  of  June,  1800,  Napoleon  gained  lasting 
renown  by  his  victory  over  the  Austrians  on  the 
bloody  field  of  Marengo.  It  is  said  that  he  would  have 
been  defeated  except  for  General  Desaix,  who,  while 
out  reconnoitering  at  the  time,  heard  the  fighting  and 
thought  the  battle  lost.  He  exclaimed,  however :  "  It 
is  only  three  o'clock,  and  there  is  time  to  win  another." 
He  then  joined  Napoleon,  and,  though  he  himself  was 
slain,  the  result  was  a  splendid  victory.  This  battle 
drove  the  Austrians  out  of  Italy;  but  the  allied 
powers,  even  as  early  as  this,  had  made  up  their 
minds  that  there  could  be  no  peace  without  Napoleon's 
overthrow. 

When  Murat,  with  twenty-eight  thousand  men,  was 
sent  to  quell  the  insurrection  raised  by  Ferdinand 
IV.  of  Naples,  Queen  Caroline  went  to  St.  Peters- 
burg to  implore  the  intercession  of  the  Czar.  She 
succeeded  so  far  that  France,  hoping  to  gain  the 
alliance  of  Russia,  permitted  the  Bourbons  to  remain 
in  Naples  on  condition  that  they  should  agree  to  the 
terms  of  the  Continental  Blockade. 

In  1801  the  treaty  of  Campo-Formio  was  con- 
firmed by  the  Treaty  of  Luneville;  and  the  Cisalpine 
republic  was  re-established.  Later  Napoleon  changed 
the  Constitution  somewhat,  and  made  himself  president 
of  what  was  now  called  the  Italian  republic,  a  vice- 
president  also  being  appointed.  It  was  intended,  how- 
ever, to  leave  it  for  the  most  part  free  to  govern  itself. 
Piedmont  and  the  Duchy  of  Parma,  including  Pia- 
cenza,  were  also  attached  to  France.  In  the  May  of 
1801  Napoleon  made  a  monarchy  of  the  Grand  Duchy 
of  Tuscany,  and  called  it  the  Kingdom  of  Etruria. 
In  order  to  pacify  the  Spanish  Bourbons  and  to  attach 
them  to  France,  this  was  given  to  the  Duke  of  Parma, 


Napoleon  in  Italy  159 

whom  they  had  just  deprived  of  his  duchy,  and  who 
had  married  the  daughter  of  Charles  IV.  of  Spain. 

It  was  hoped  when  Napoleon  appeared  in  1804  as 
Emperor  of  France  that  the  monarchs  of  Europe 
might  be  appeased,  since  the  republican  form  of 
government  had  been  so  distasteful  to  them.  But 
England,  far  from  being  taken  in  by  this  device,  would 
not  consent  to  grant  peace  on  Napoleon's  terms. 

The  next  year  Napoleon  changed  the  Cisalpine  or 
Italian  republic  into  a  monarchy,  and  the  Ligurian 
republic  was  amalgamated  with  it.  He  then  crossed 
the  Alps,  and,  being  joined  by  Pope  Pius  VII.,  on 
the  26th  of  May,  1805,  in  the  Cathedral  of  Monza 
near  Milan,  took  the  Crown  of  Lombardy  and  placed 
it  upon  his  own  brow,  saying :  "  It  is  from  God ;  a  curse 
on  him  who  touches  it."  Napoleon  was  accompanied 
by  Josephine,  from  his  love  for  whom  no  adulation  of 
beautiful  women  was  ever  able  to  wean  him.  He  ap- 
pointed as  viceroy  of  Italy,  Josephine's  son,  Eugene 
Beauharnais,  who  became  so  beloved  by  his  subjects 
that  even  down  to  the  present  generation  he  is  referred 
to  with  affection.  Napoleon  immediately  abolished 
the  Legislative  Assembly,  and  Italy  became  a  monarchy 
with  the  same  government  as  France;  for,  though  he 
planned  to  separate  France  and  Italy  in  the  future, 
he  thought  it  necessary  that  at  first  they  should  remain 
in  the  same  kingdom  in  order  to  accustom  the  Italian 
States,  which  had  so  long  been  disunited,  to  live  under 
common  laws;  therefore  he  said  he  would  begin  by 
making  them  French. 

That  same  year  Europe  made  a  Third  Coalition,  and 
a  large  Austrian  army  under  Archduke  Charles  took 
fhe  field  in  Italy.  Then  Napoleon  marched  upon 
Vienna,  and  the  celebrated  Battle  of  Austerlitz  was 


160         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

fought,  December  2,  1805.  This  overwhelming  de- 
feat forced  the  Austrians  to  cede  the  whole  of  Venetia 
to  Bonaparte,  at  the  Treaty  of  Presburg  on  the  26th 
of  December.  The  latter  joined  it  to  his  Italian  king- 
dom, and  Francis  II.  was  forced  not  only  to  lay  down 
the  scepter  of  the  German-Roman  Empire,  but  obliged 
to  acknowledge  Napoleon's  sway. 

Just  after  Austerlitz,  Napoleon  heard  that  the  Bour- 
bons had  again  admitted  the  British  into  the  harbor  of 
Naples,  and  were  assailing  the  French  in  the  rear.  He 
then  made  a  proclamation  announcing  the  punishment 
of  that  kingdom,  and  told  the  army  that,  though  after 
Lodi  and  the  other  battles  he  had  suspected  Naples 
of  treason,  he  had  shown  her  particular  favor  out  of 
consideration  for  Russia,  and  had  respected  her  nomi- 
nal neutrality;  and  after  the  Battle  of  Marengo  he 
had  again  pardoned  the  king  and  had  dealt  more  than 
generously  with  an  enemy  who  had  done  everything  to 
destroy  himself;  but  he  now  pronounced  the  dynasty 
of  Naples  at  an  end.  The  Bourbon  family  at  once 
took  refuge  in  Sicily;  and  in  March,  1806,  Napoleon 
had  his  brother  Joseph  crowned  King  of  Naples. 
During  the  short  time  that  Joseph  reigned  he  made 
many  permanent  civil  and  military  improvements, 
opening  new  roads,  draining  marshes  and  causing  the 
peasants  to  work  for  good  pay.  In  1808  Napoleon 
made  Joseph  King  of  Spain,  and  appointed  Murat, 
his  brother-in-law,  King  of  Naples  in  Joseph's  stead. 
The  people  had  been  very  fond  of  Joseph,  but  they 
became  equally  attached  to  Murat.  Capri,  having  at 
that  time  been  taken  from  Sir  Hudson  Low,  was 
annexed  to  Naples. 

The  provinces  of  Basilicata,  Calabria  and  the 
Abruzzi  were  at  this  time  overrun  with  brigands,  and  a 


Napoleon  in  Italy  161 

large  force  of  these,  encouraged  by  the  priesthood  and 
the  Bourbons,  joined  an  insurrection  which  Queen 
Caroline  had  incited  against  the  French.  Great  cruel- 
ties were  practiced  on  both  the  French  and  the  English 
side  in  a  desultory  warfare,  which  continued  until 
1811. 

Pius  VII.  wished  to  have  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Pope  restored;  and,  on  Napoleon  refusing,  His  Holi- 
ness declined  to  enter  into  any  agreement  with  France. 
Accordingly  Napoleon,  since  he  would  have  no  hostile 
power  under  him,  proceeded  to  annex  and  occupy  the 
Papal  States. 

After  the  great  Battle  of  Wagram  Napoleon  heard 
that  the  Pope  had  hurled  a  Bull  of  Excommunication 
against  him ;  and  Murat,  at  the  end  of  the  year  1809, 
seized  the  pontiff  and  had  him  imprisoned  in  the 
Palace  of  Fontainebleau,  where  he  remained  until  the 
downfall  of  Napoleon  in  1814.  The  King  of  Etruria, 
formerly  Duke  of  Parma,  with  his  son  and  his  mother, 
the  regent,  were  forced  to  find  a  temporary  asylum  in 
Spain ;  and  during  the  same  year  Bonaparte  again 
made  Tuscany  a  Grand  Duchy  and  appointed  his  sister 
Eliza,  whom  he  had  already  made  Duchess  of  Lucca 
and  Princess  of  Piombino,  Grand  Duchess.  By  thus 
cutting  up  Italy  for  the  maintenance  of  his  family, 
Napoleon  kept  it  subservient  to  himself,  and  at  the 
same  time  built  up  a  new  French  aristocracy,  which 
made  his  court  surpass  in  brilliancy  the  one  sacrificed 
in  the  Revolution.  His  governments  were  carried  on 
according  to  the  demands  of  justice;  and  besides  re- 
vising the  barbarous  laws  he  made  new  ones  so  perfect 
that  they  still  continue  to  be  used  in  jurisprudence. 

It  was  at  this  era  that  the  idea  of  a  United  Italy  was 
first  infused  into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  this  harmo- 


1 62         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

nious  feeling  being  greatly  developed  by  the  fact  "  that 
the  natives  of  all  parts  of  Italy  fought  side  by  side  in 
the  armies  of  Napoleon."  The  historian  Balbo  says : 
"  Of  all  the  periods  of  servitude  this  was  the  most 
glorious,  and  from  this  time  the  name  of  Italy  was 
pronounced  with  increasing  love  and  honor." 

Napoleon  afterwards  at  St.  Helena  wrote  out  a 
paper  showing  that  he  had  planned  to  unite  the 
Venetians,  the  Milanese,  Piedmontese,  Genoese,  Tus- 
cans and  all  the  other  Italian  States  into  one  great 
nation,  with  Alpine  boundaries  and  the  Adriatic,  the 
Ionian  and  Mediterranean  seas  for  protection,  and  to 
leave  it  all  as  a  "  trophy  of  his  glory."  He  had  in- 
tended in  this  way  to  shut  out  Austria  and  to  guard  the 
route  to  the  Orient.  Rome  was  to  be  the  capital  of 
this  glorious  country  which  Petrarch  referred  to  as  "  a 
beautiful  land  divided  by  the  Apennines,  surrounded 
by  the  sea  and  the  Alps."  Napoleon  thought  that 
it  would  take  thirty  years  to  complete  this  project; 
and  most  people  believe  that  if  he  had  spent  his  entire 
energies  in  consolidating  Italy  he  would  never  have 
lost  the  prestige  gained,  for  the  union  which  he  con- 
ceived and  partly  executed  was  the  harbinger  of  what 
Italy  became  a  little  more  than  a  half  century  later, 
after  many  and  bitter  struggles. 

Under  Napoleon's  regime  improvements  were  vast. 
It  was  he  who  established  the  army  organization,  such 
as  has  come  down  to  the  present  day.  He  constructed 
new  roads  and  engineered  important  systems  of  canals, 
besides  beautifying  cities  with  graceful  memorial 
arches,  and  encouraging  the  population  of  the  country 
districts  to  engage  in  agricultural  pursuits. 

Napoleon  also  commenced  the  renovation  of  Rome. 
The  ruins  of  eighteen  hundred  years  in  the  Forum  and 


Tasso. 
Boccaccio. 


AUTHORS. 
Dante. 


Petrarch. 
d'Annnnzto. 


Napoleon  in  Italy  163 

on  the  Palatine  were  soon  excavated,  and  the  imposing 
columns  of  the  temples  and  wonderful  old  palaces 
were  restored  in  their  original  grace  and  stateliness. 
In  the  Colosseum  the  iron  flood-gates  which  had  ad- 
mitted water  for  naval  displays  and  the  doors  of  the 
dens  of  the  wild  beasts  leading  into  the  amphitheater 
were  discovered ;  and  even  the  bronze  rings  to  which 
the  Christian  martyrs  used  to  be  chained  were  again 
visible;  while  the  marvelous  auditorium,  with  some  of 
the  seats  still  numbered,  all  together  having  the  ca- 
pacity of  accommodating  eighteen  thousand  specta- 
tors, was  thrown  open.  After  clearing  away  rubbish 
eighteen  feet  deep  in  the  center  of  the  Forum,  earlier 
the  location  of  rude  villages,  a  beautiful  pavement, 
thought  to  be  the  old  Sacra  Via,  was  disclosed  with 
the  marks  of  the  chariots  which  had  served  in  the 
old  Roman  triumphs.  The  little  Temple  of  Vesta  was 
also  exhumed,  and  excavations  were  made  in  the  Baths 
of  Titus,  where  the  famous  Laocoon  was  discov- 
ered. Napoleon  had  also  begun  to  turn  aside  the 
course  of  the  Tiber,  revealing  the  wonderful  treasures 
of  art  thrown  in  there  at  the  time  of  the  Gothic  in- 
vasion. Since  Napoleon  had  intended  to  make  the 
Quirinal  palace  his  home,  it  was  beautified  and  re- 
fashioned into  something  of  the  comfort  and  magnifi- 
cence which  characterizes  it  to-day.  The  war  horses 
attached  to  the  fountain  in  front  of  this  palace  are 
among  the  few  things  which  had  never  been  buried. 
In  spite  of  this  progressive  spirit,  Italy  was  for  the 
time  being  brought  into  great  straits,  since  Napoleon 
divided  and  sub-divided,  set  up  and  demolished,  ac- 
cording to  his  will. 

The  people  of  Sicily,  jealous  of  being  deprived  of 
the  new  institutions  and  resources  developing  in  other 


164         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

parts  of  Italy,  made  a  pressure  upon  King  Ferdinand 
IV.  for  the  granting  of  a  constitution  after  the  Eng- 
lish model,  and  he  was  forced  to  abdicate  in  favor  of 
his  son  Francis,  as  Vicar-General,  January  16,  1812. 
Queen  Caroline  resisted  English  protection,  and,  being 
unpopular  on  account  of  the  extravagance  and  luxury 
of  her  court,  and  on  account  of  her  cruelty,  the  Eng- 
lish banished  her  and  sent  her  back  to  Vienna,  where 
she  died  in  September,  1814. 

Naples  continued  an  independent  kingdom,  divided, 
like  all  the  nations,  into  the  Liberals  and  a  despotic 
party.  The  Kingdom  of  Sardinia,  under  the  rule  of 
Victor  Emanuel  I.,  was  sustained  by  the  English  fleet 
in  spite  of  the  restlessness  of  the  people,  who  were 
always  comparing  their  condition  unfavorably  with 
other  parts  of  Italy.  The  French  provinces  of  Italy 
were  united  under  Louis  Bonaparte,  and  afterwards 
given  to  Count  Borghese,  the  husband  of  Napoleon's 
sister,  the  beautiful  Pauline  Bonaparte,  whose  incom- 
parably fine  reclining  statue  is  still  seen  in  their  late 
home,  the  Borghese  Villa.  This  magnificent  park,  in- 
cluding the  galleries  with  gardens  adjoining,  has  been 
lately  purchased  by  the  Italian  government  and  will 
be  kept  as  a  museum  of  the  State. 

Napoleon  had  raised  Lombardy  from  the  lowest  con- 
dition of  national  life  to  prominence  in  all  the  environ- 
ments which  tend  to  prosperity.  Among  the  radical 
changes,  the  famous  road  over  the  Simplon  connecting 
Lombardy  and  Switzerland  was  constructed,  the  ex- 
pense of  one  million  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
being  borne  by  France  and  Italy  unitedly.  To  this  day 
the  Lombard  people  look  back  upon  Napoleon's  reign 
as  among  the  "  brightest  of  Italian  days  " ;  for  he  had 
taken  care  to  confer  all  the  offices  of  State  of  any  con- 


Napoleon  in  Italy  165 

sequence  upon  native  Italians,  and  not  only  kept  the 
people  united,  but  pacified  the  principal  citizens  all 
over  Italy.  In  view  of  his  distinguished  services,  after 
his  banishment  to  Elba,  he  was  invited  by  the  authori- 
ties at  Turin  to  accept  the  leadership  of  the  govern- 
ment, in  view  of  receiving  the  crown  of  united  Italy. 


1 66         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  FALL  OF   NAPOLEON'S   ITALIAN    MONARCHY. — AUS- 
TRIA AGAIN   IN  THE  ASCENDANCY. ADVANCED   IDEAS 

OF  THE  PEOPLE. OLD    CONSERVATIVE     GOVERNMENTS 

RESTORED. THE  CARBONARI. ALL  ITALY  AROUSED. — 

REVOLUTIONS   OF    l82I,    1830,    AND    1848. — MAZZINI, 
CAVOUR  AND  GARIBALDI. 

1812—1848  A.D. 

THE  destruction  of  Napoleon  commenced  when  he 
planned  his  disastrous  campaign  of  1812 ;  for  this 
mighty  undertaking  resulted  in  the  annihilation  of  his 
large  army  in  the  snowfields  of  Russia.  His  selfish- 
ness, as  shown  in  sacrificing  so  many  thousand  lives 
for  his  own  aggrandizement,  became  at  this  time  more 
and  more  apparent;  and  the  people,  weary  of  his  des- 
potism, forgot  his  wonderful  achievements  and  soon 
ignored  the  regenerating  influences  he  had  set  in 
motion.  Thus,  when  all  the  nations  of  Europe  united 
against  him,  the  great  demi-god  fell. 

When  the  crisis  came,  Murat,  hoping  not  to  be  re- 
moved, entered  into  negotiations  with  Austria.  He 
left  Naples  with  a  large  army,  bound  for  upper  Italy, 
without  disclosing  his  disloyalty  to  viceroy  Eugene. 
The  latter,  desiring  to  keep  his  throne,  after  he  had 
learned  of  Napoleon's  complete  downfall  in  France, 
and  that  the  English  had  occupied  Leghorn  and 
Genoa,  declared  his  willingness  to  submit  to  the  rule 
of  the  allied  powers.  The  Senate  also  was  about  to 
intercede  in  Eugene's  behalf;  but  the  people  of  Lorn- 


Italy  Aroused  167 

bardy,  in  spite  of  their  love  for  him  personally,  were  so 
tired  of  French  government  that  they  broke  into  a 
mob,  and  Eugene  was  obliged  to  surrender  the  fortress 
of  Mantua  to  the  Austrians.  Thus,  when  a  few  days 
later  the  Austrian  army  entered  Milan,  the  French 
kingdom  in  Italy  fell. 

In  1815  the  Allies,  who  had  entered  Paris  on  May 
31,  1814,  met  in  a  Congress  at  Vienna  to  arrange  the 
ultimate  status  of  the  countries  which  Bonaparte  had 
absorbed  and  now  lost.  Austria  received  all  the  main- 
land of  Venice  and  the  whole  of  Lombardy  to  the 
Ticino  on  the  west;  and  on  the  south  as  far  as  the 
Po,  under  the  name  of  the  Lombardo- Venetian  king- 
dom. Victor  Emanuel  I.  was  given  back  Piedmont 
and  Savoy,  with  the  addition  of  the  provinces  of 
Genoa;  and  on  the  2Oth  of  May,  after  an  interim  of 
sixteen  years,  he  was  received  back  to  Turin  with 
great  joy  by  the  people.  He  immediately  commenced, 
fossil  as  he  was,  the  same  regime  which  had  been 
abandoned  nearly  twenty  years  before,  reinstating  all 
the  old  officers  in  a  body,  without  ascertaining  how 
many  of  them  had  died  during  French  rule,  for  he 
said  that  he  "  regarded  the  intervening  epoch  as  a 
dream." 

The  Grand  Duchy  of  Tuscany  was  given  to  Ferdi- 
nand, the  brother  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  with  a 
revenue  of  fourteen  million,  and  the  States  of  the 
Church,  including  Bologna,  Ferrara,  Forli  and  Ra- 
venna, consisting  of  a  population  of  three  million,  and 
a  standing  army  of  sixteen  thousand,  were  all  restored 
to  the  Pope,  the  sixteen  departments  being  sometimes 
called  the  Northern  Legations.  Pope  Pius  VII. ,  hav- 
ing been  liberated,  returned  to  Rome.  He  proceeded 
to  reorganize  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  re-estab- 


i68          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

lished  the  Inquisition;  but  the  Jesuits,  unadapted  to 
the  newly  developed  emergencies,  soon  lost  ground. 

The  Duchy  of  Parma,  including  Piacenza,  was,  with 
Guastilla,  assigned  by  the  allies  to  Marie  Louise,  wife 


of  Napoleon,  and  daughter  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria, 
who  was  not  allowed  to  share  Napoleon's  exile.  The 
Spanish  Bourbons  were  given  Lucca,  but  on  Marie 


Italy  Aroused  169 

Louise's  death  Parma  was  to  be  restored  to  them  and 
they  were  then  to  relinquish  Lucca  to  the  Austrian 
Ferdinand  III.,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany.  Francis  IV., 
son  of  Beatrice  d'Este,  the  daughter  of  the  late  Duke 
Hercules  III.,  received  the  Duchy  of  Modena. 

There  was  one  republic  left,  and  that  was  the  tiny 
principality  of  San  Marino,  surrounded  by  the  Apen- 
nine  mountains  and  the  Papal  States,  which  in  early 
times  served  as  a  bulwark  between  the  Montefeltro 
and  the  Malatesta.  Through  all  the  centuries  it  had 
"  observed  the  storms  which  had  desolated  Italy  at 
its  feet,"  and  ever  since  the  time  when  it  was  first 
recognized,  in  1631,  no  nation  had  been  mean  enough 
to  usurp  authority  over  it.  During  the  reign  of  Philip 
V.  of  'Spain,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  Cardinal  Albe- 
roni  gained  permission  from  Pope  Clement  XII.  to 
destroy  this  ancient  government;  but  the  latter  was 
obliged,  on  account  of  opposition,  to  withdraw  his 
consent  and  to  confirm  the  privileges  of  the  State. 

Although  San  Marino  consists  of  only  thirty-three 
square  miles,  with  a  population  of  about  ten  thousand, 
which  would-be  considered  in  the  United  States  hardly 
more  than  a  small  country  district,  it  is  entirely  self- 
supporting,  and  is  governed  by  two  presiding  officers 
elected  every  six  months,  one  from  the  aristocracy  and 
one  from  the  people.  San  Marino  was  established  in 
the  fifth  century  as  a  hermitage  by  a  stonemason  named 
Marinus,  and  under  him  it  grew  into  a  community  of 
seven  thousand  persons,  its  very  insignificance  prevent- 
ing it,  during  all  these  years,  from  being  blotted  out. 
Marinus  afterwards  was  dubbed  a  saint,  his  bones  hav- 
ing been  restored  to  the  town  by  Pepin  the  Short,  the 
father  of  Charlemagne. 

The  Bourbon  Dynasty   was    restored    in   the   Two 


170         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Sicilies,  under  King  Ferdinand  I.  in  1816.  Ignoring 
his  other  titles,  "Ferdinand  IV.  of  Naples"  and 
"  Ferdinand  III.  of  Sicily,"  he  reigned  as  Ferdinand 
I.  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  Murat 
had  governed  in  Naples  through  the  latter  part  of  the 
Napoleonic  era,  and  had  not  given  up  his  crown  dur- 
ing the  time  of  Napoleon's  banishment  to  Elba.  The 
question  of  the  Ferdinands  and  Francises  in  Sicily, 
the  Two  Sicilies  and  Naples,  is  especially  confusing, 
princes  with  the  same  titles  seeming  to  appear  at 
intervals  sometimes  of  centuries.  This  is  on  account 
of  the  intricacies  in  the  separation  and  union  of  these 
kingdoms  from  earliest  times,  which  often  makes  a 
prince  of  the  same  name  governing  Sicily  appear  to 
reign  in  Naples  much  later. 

Outside  of  Naples,  Italy,  as  is  seen,  was  left  by  the 
powers  virtually  a  province  of  Austria,  and  governed 
for  the  most  part  by  Austrian  princes. 

The  allies  at  Vienna  had  not  yet  brought  their 
treaties  and  festivities  to  a  close  when  they  learned 
that  Napoleon  had  escaped  from  Elba;  but  the  Battle 
of  Waterloo  soon  decided  his  fate. 

The  people  of  Italy  at  this  time  assisted  the  allies 
in  expelling  the  common  enemy ;  but  they  were  dis- 
appointed in  the  results,  since  Italy  was  only  used  as 
a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  the  ambitious  monarchs  of 
Europe.  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  that  was  founded 
by  Augustus,  re-dedicated  by  Charlemagne,  and  nomi- 
nally restored  by  Otto  the  Great,  had  been  in  reality 
for  many  years  only  the  Empire  of  Austria,  and  had 
come  to  an  abrupt  close  after  Austerlitz  by  the  en- 
forced abdication  of  Francis  II. 

The  peace  of  Italy  was  additionally  disturbed  by  an 
attempt  by  Murat  to  be  reinstated  in  his  kingdom. 


Italy  Aroused  171 

Austria  had  consented  that  he  should  continue  King 
of  Naples;  but,  distrusting  her  loyalty,  and  thinking 
that  his  friends,  the  Neapolitans,  would  join  him  in 
upholding  Napoleon,  Murat  went  over  to  him ;  and 
when  the  latter  landed,  he  tried  at  the  head  of  forty 
thousand  men  to  overcome  the  Austrian  force  in 
northern  Italy.  He  was  driven  back,  however,  and, 
abandoned  by  his  troops ;  he  then  fled  to  Naples,  thence 
to  France,  and  afterwards  to  Corsica.  Having  re- 
turned, he  reached  the  coast  of  lower  Calabria  with 
thirty  followers,  but  was  seen  and  seized  by  some  of 
Ferdinand's  soldiers;  and  condemned  by  the  king, 
being  given  only  half  an  hour  to  prepare  for  death. 
During  these  valued  moments  he  received  absolution 
and  wrote  a  pathetic  letter  to  his  family.  This  hap- 
pened on  the  very  day  on  which  Napoleon  arrived  in 
St.  Helena. 

It  was  soon  seen  that  methods  of  thought  as  well  as 
manners  and  customs  had  been  changed  by  Napoleon's 
invasion.  In  the  reaction  from  fierce  political  excite- 
ment the  people  diverted  their  minds  by  games  of 
chance  and  lotteries,  this  being  the  beginning  of  the 
gaming  fever  which  has  proved  such  a  curse  to  Italy. 
Indeed,  it  has  been  said  that  the  place  which  alcoholic 
intoxication  usually  occupies  is  replaced  in  southern 
Italy  by  the  frenzy  for  gambling.  Secret  societies 
at  this  time  also  sprang  up,  formed  among  violent 
men  for  the  purpose  of  getting  rid  of  Austrian  rule 
in  Italy,  and  of  setting  up  a  democratic  government; 
but  it  was  soon  proved  that  the  deliverance  of  Italy 
had  to  be  accomplished  by  efficient  workers,  men  will- 
ing to  bide  their  time. 

The  Carbonari  was  the  name  of  a  secret  society 
organized  in  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  during  the  first 


172          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  influence  of  which 
increased  on  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  in  whose 
ranks  many  of  this  fraternity  were  found.  A  plot 
to  murder  the  Viceroy  of  Milan  instigated  by  them 
failed;  but  on  the  2d  of  July,  1820,  encouraged  by 
the  success  of  an  insurrection  in  Spain,  the  people 
of  Avellino  demanded  a  Constitution.  The  governor 
reluctantly  joined  the  two  lieutenants,  Morelli  and 
Silvati,  who  commanded  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  men,  and  went  forth  from  Nola  under  the  tri- 
colored  (black,  red  and  blue)  banner  of  this  society, 
with  their  watch  cry  of  "  For  God,  King  and  Consti- 
tution." On  the  night  of  the  5th  of  July  General 
Pepe,  in-  charge  of  the  garrison  of  Salerno,  left  Naples 
for  the  purpose  of  leading  the  revolutionists.  King 
Ferdinand,  leaving  the  government  to  his  son  Francis, 
with  the  title  of  Vicar,  granted  a  Constitution  under 
duress,  and  then  fled  to  Leyback,  where  the  Holy 
Alliance  between  Austria,  Prussia  and  Russia  was  con- 
vened. The  ministry  which  was  now  formed  by  the 
Liberals  promised  a  Constitution  like  that  set  up  by 
Napoleon. 

Palermo,  which  with  the  rest  of  Sicily,  had  enjoyed 
a  Constitution  in  the  Napoleonic  period,  received  the 
news  with  great  rejoicing  and  proceeded  to  expel  the 
Bourbon  troops,  though  all  the  rest  of  the  Neapoli- 
tan kingdom  still  endorsed  the  old  government. 

This  excitement  was  the  signal  for  an  uprising  in 
the  Papal  States.  Piedmont  also  broke  out  into  an 
insurrection,  and  the  people  tried  to  force  the  king 
to  adopt  a  Constitution  like  that  of  Naples,  hoping  by 
their  liberal  policy  to  be  able,  as  they  did  some  years 
afterwards,  to  take  the  lead  in  Italian  politics ;  but 
Victor  Emanuel  I.,  although  he  could  not  forget  that 


Italy  Aroused  173 

the  Austrians  had  done  nothing  to  keep  his  father, 
Charles  Emanuel  III.,  on  the  throne,  was  obliged  to 
join  the  alliance  at  Leyback  in  the  spring  of  1821,  and 
could  not  yield  to  their  demands.  Therefore  when  the 
citadel  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Constitutionalists,  he 
abdicated  in  favor  of  his  brother,  Charles  Felix.  In 
the  absence  of  the  latter,  Charles  Albert,  Prince  of 
Carignano,  was  made  regent ;  and  the  same  day  he  was 
inveigled  into  adopting  the  Constitution.  Charles 
Albert  was  descended  in  another  line  from  Thomas 
Francis,  a  brother  of  Victor  Amadeus  I.,  both  of  these 
princes  being  sons  of  the  illustrious  Charles  Emanuel 
the  Great. 

Encouraged  by  the  sympathy  of  the  British  govern- 
ment, Austria,  Russia  and  Prussia  sent  their  armies 
to  put  an  end  to  this  republican  movement.  The 
new  Constitutions  were  destroyed  and  the  patriots 
executed  and  exiled.  Some  managed  to  escape,  how- 
ever, and  led  a  miserable  existence  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. Ferdinand  I.  was  reinstated  on  his  throne,  and 
the  Neapolitans  were  forced  to  bear  the  expense  of 
supporting  the  immense  Austrian  army  which  was  left 
in  occupation. 

The  Austrians  now  took  possession  of  all  the  for- 
tresses and  entered  Turin  in  triumph.  Charles  Felix, 
who  had  never  supported  the  liberal  measures  en- 
dorsed by  Charles  Albert  in  his  absence,  declared 
that  he  would  not  adopt  the  government  established 
by  the  latter.  Charles  Albert  was  urged  to  break 
altogether  with  his  cousin ;  but,  being  scarcely  more 
than  twenty-three  years  of  age  and  inexperienced,  he 
saw  no  way  to  free  himself  from  the  political  entangle- 
ments. Accordingly,  he  secretly  left  Turin  and,  not 
succeeding  in  gaining  an  interview  with  Charles  Felix, 


174          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

he  sought  the  home  of  his  father-in-law,  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Tuscany. 

The  royal  party,  aided  by  the  Austrian  troops, 
forced  the  revolutionists  to  retire,  and  in  1821  the 
revolution  ended.  The  people  of  Genoa  received  the 
exiled  patriots,  and  gave  them  money;  and  some  of 
the  most  sympathetic  even  proposed  with  them  to  form 
a  nucleus  of  a  party  for  future  resistance.  But  the 
revolutionists  admonished  them  that  the  time  was  not 
yet  ripe. 

Italy  was  shrouded  in  gloom  for  many  years  and 
the  people  were  reduced  by  taxation  to  intolerable 
destitution.  From  this  time  up  to  the  revolution  of 
1830  few  events  of  importance  occurred. 

The  greater  number  of  the  Piedmontese  patriots 
who  had  joined  the  insurrection  of  1821  finally  took 
refuge  in  Spain  or  fought  for  Greek  independence. 
Among  these  last  was  a  comrade  of  Charles  Albert, 
Santorre  di  Santarosa,  who  met  death  in  1825  like 
a  hero. 

Ferdinand  of  Naples'  minister,  Canosa,  having  ter- 
rorized the  people  into  something  like  order  by  im- 
prisonment and  death,  the  Austrian  troops  entered 
Naples  on  the  23d  of  March,  the  leaders  of  the  rev- 
olution at  Avellino  being  executed  among  the  first. 
On  the  5th  of  May,  1821,  the  miserable  Ferdinand  I. 
died;  and  in  1830  Francis  I.,  who  was  more  wicked 
than  his  father,  also  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Ferdinand  II. 

Having  made  the  Lombardo- Venetian  kingdom  a 
great  fortress,  with  which  to  overawe  all  Italy,  Austria 
committed  the  most  monstrous  outrages  against  the 
Italian  people  and  nobility.  Among  such  instances 
was  that  of  one  Federigo  Confaloniere,  suspected  of 


Italy  Aroused  175 

complicity  with  the  Piedmontese  revolution.  He  was 
suddenly  alarmed  one  day  by  a  visit  from  the  Austrian 
marshal ;  and  on  trying  to  escape  by  a  secret  staircase 
in  his  house  he  was  seized  and  sent  to  languish  and 
die  in  a  dungeon  at  Spielberg. 

The  Austrians  and  the  clergy  hoped  to  persuade 
Charles  Felix  to  cut  off  altogether  his  cousin,  Charles 
Albert,  who  was  inclined  to  liberalism,  and,  ignoring 
the  Salic  Law,  to  leave  the  throne  to  Francis  of  Mo- 
dena,  who  had  married  the  sister  of  Charles  Albert. 
The  latter,  however,  would  not  agree  to  this ;  but  after 
calling  his  cousin  to  his  court  he  obliged  him,  as  a 
concession  to  the  Holy  Alliance,  to  enroll  himself 
among  the  troops  sent  to  Spain  by  them  for  the  pur- 
pose of  demolishing  the  Constitutional  government 
lately  set  up  there.  Thus  Charles  Albert  was  called 
upon  to  crush  out  the  same  principles  which  he  had 
formerly  advocated,  and  at  this  time  to  fight  against 
forces  partly  made  up  of  those  patriots  who  had  been 
driven  out  of  Piedmont. 

After  the  Napoleonic  era  every  ambitious  leader  en- 
tertained a  hope  that  by  espousing  the  cause  of  the 
people  he  might  be  made  head  of  the  State.  In  the 
beginning  of  1831  Francis  of  Modena  united  with 
Giro  Menotti,  a  rich  manufacturer  of  Modena,  in  the 
leadership  of  a  revolutionary  league.  Among  the 
members  was  Louis  Philippe,  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
who,  hoping  to  gain  recognition  of  his  title  of  King 
of  France,  divulged  the  whole  plot  to  the  Austrians; 
at  the  same  time  Francis  of  Modena  also  proved  false 
and  wrote  to  Vienna  to  warn  the  court  against  Louis 
Philippe  himself,  implicating  the  rest  of  his  colleagues. 
Menotti  soon  found  that  Francis  of  Modena  had  de- 
ceived him,  and  instigated  an  insurrection  during 


176         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

which  Francis  was  obliged  to  flee  to  the  Austrian 
garrison  at  Mantua ;  but  he  took  care  to  have  Menotti 
brought  along  with  him  as  prisoner. 

In  1831  Pope  Gregory  XVI.,  who  had  recently  been 
elected,  was  also  having  trouble  in  Romagna,  on  ac- 
count of  the  same  revolution;  and  the  Duchess  of 
Parma,  becoming  involved,  was  obliged  to  flee.  It 
was  in  the  course  of  this  revolution  of  1830  that  the 
two  young  Bonapartes  first  appeared,  one  of  them 
dying  afterwards  at  the  massacre  of  Forli,  and  the 
other  being  the  subsequent  Emperor  of  France. 

The  Pope  had  been  forced  to  leave  Rome,  and  a 
provisional  government  was  set  up  everywhere ;  but 
the  Austrians  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Pope  and  brought 
back  Francis  of  Modena  and  the  Duchess  of  Parma. 
Francis,  when  restored,  did  not  spare  his  former  com- 
rades. He  imprisoned  some,  executed  others,  and  was 
not  even  merciful  to  Giro  Menotti,  whom  he  had 
promised  to  protect. 

Although  the  revolts  of  1831  had  been  put  down, 
the  French  were  uneasy  because  of  the  power  of  the 
Austrians  in  the  Papal  States ;  and  in  1832  Louis 
Philippe  sought  to  check  their  influence  by  establish- 
ing a  military  post  at  Ancona.  This  was  kept  up  until 
1838,  when  the  Austrians  were  obliged  to  evacuate. 

Soon  after  the  revolts  in  his  kingdom  were  quelled, 
Charles  Felix  died  in  1831,  leaving  no  children;  and 
Charles  Albert  succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  latter's 
conduct  had  made  Austrians  and  Italians  alike  doubt- 
ful of  him,  and  the  former  hesitated  to  uphold  him  as 
King  of  Sardinia,  while  the  Liberals  in  Italy  con- 
sidered that  he  had  betrayed  his  colleagues  who  had 
sustained  him  in  1821.  The  people,  however,  hoped 
from  his  early  course  that  he  would  take  the  lead  in 


Italy  Aroused  177 

throwing  off  the  Austrian  yoke;  but  this  would  have 
brought  on  a  war  with  that  nation,  and  he  knew  that 
without  the  aid  of  France,  who  did  not  support  him, 
he  was  not  powerful  enough  to  meet  it.  The  sorrow 
and  perplexity  he  felt  at  the  situation,  and  the  doubt 
as  to  which  course  to  follow,  may  be  seen  by  the  re- 
mark he  made  on  ascending  the  throne:  "I  stand 
between  the  dagger  of  the  Carbonari  and  the  adulation 
of  the  Jesuits." 

About  this  time  Charles  Albert  received  a  fanatical 
anonymous  epistle  urging  him  to  defy  Austria  and 
place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  nation  as  the  represen- 
tative of  advanced  ideas.  The  letter  told  him  that  this 
was  his  opportunity  to  hand  his  name  down  to  pos- 
terity, and  impressed  upon  him  that  if  he  hoped  to 
succeed  he  must  consecrate  himself  to  the  work  as 
to  a  holy  mission.  It  recalled  the  hopes  centered  in 
him  from  the  position  he  had  taken  in  1821,  and  urg^d 
that  if  he  disappointed  the  expectations  of  the  people 
opprobrium  would  succeed  the  joy  which  had  greeted 
his  succession ;  and  the  writer  added :  "  You  will  be 
hailed  by  posterity  as  the  first  among  the  heroes  or 
the  last  of  Italian  despots." 

The  author  of  these  sentiments  was  Giuseppe  Maz- 
zini,  a  young  Genoese  who  had  been  confined  in  Savona 
for  complicity  with  the  Carbonari.  On  receiving  the 
message  Charles  Albert  ordered  the  prosecution  of 
the  writer  whenever  he  should  appear  in  Piedmont. 
This  was  just  as  Mazzini  had  expected;  for  he  had 
written  the  letter  to  undeceive  the  Radicals,  who  had 
trusted  in  Charles  Albert's  liberal  principles ;  and  now 
he  organized  a  society  called  "  Young  Italy,"  whose 
object  was  to  unite  the  nation  and  establish  republi- 
can institutions.  Though  fanatical,  impractical  and 


178          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

impatient  of  results,  Mazzini  was  an  eloquent  speaker, 
and  was  the  first  Italian  statesman  to  declare  that 
"  Italy  might  and  must  some  day  exist  as  one  free 
nation."  He  and  his  party,  aided  by  Crispi,  were  san- 
guine that,  with  an  army  of  patriotic  countrymen 
gathered  from  the  ends  of  Italy,  they  might  free  their 
land  from  the  Austrian  yoke. 

Charles  Albert  refused  to  lead  the  party,  and  Maz- 
zini, incensed  at  his  conservative  attitude,  made  the 
mistake  of  tampering  with  the  king's  soldiers,  and  by 
drawing  them  away  from  their  allegiance  threatened 
to  destroy  the  only  military  support  upon  which  Italy 
Could  depend.  In  putting  down  these  revolts,  many 
were  executed,  while  others  sacrificed  their  lives, 
among  these  being  Mazzini's  most  devoted  follower 
and  trusted  friend,  Joseph  Ruffini,  who  committed 
suicide  lest,  maddened  by  some  of  the  tortures,  he 
should  in  a  frenzy  disclose  his  friend's  methods  of 
procedure. 

Mazzini  now  established  himself  at  Geneva,  and,  in 
January,  1833,  with  his  army  of  exiles,  sought  to  bring 
about  a  revolution  in  Savoy ;  but  the  undertaking  was 
abortive,  and  he  was  obliged  to  hide  for  a  time  in 
London. 

The  Moderate  party  had  confidence  that  Charles 
Albert  would  unite  Italy  and  make  her  free;  and  ac- 
cordingly they  were  content  to  wait.  The  man  destined 
to  unite  this  Moderate  party,  and  make  it  a  neutraliz- 
ing force  against  the  Liberals,  was  Count  Camillo 
Benso  di  Cavour,  who  was  born  in  1810,  and  was 
accordingly  two  years  younger  than  Mazzini.  He  was 
at  this  era  writing  articles  for  the  Risorgimento 
in  Turin,  a  journal  in  opposition  to  the  Mazzini  organ, 
the  Concordia,  and  all  the  while  he  was  devoting 


Italy  Aroused  179 

himself  to  political  research.  Of  the  three  leaders 
who  soon  became  prominent,  Mazzini  was  said  to  be 
the  prophet,  Cavour  the  statesman,  and  Garibaldi  the 
knight  errant  of  Italian  independence.  These  three 
were  all  natives  of  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia.  Mazzini 
was  from  Genoa,  which  hated  the  enforced  rule  of 
Turin;  Garibaldi  was  from  Nice,  the  darling  of  the 
people,  and  Cavour  a  scion  from  the  old  Piedmontese 
aristocracy.  This  was  a  loyal  stock,  tenacious,  truth- 
ful and  brave ;  and  under  its  stolid  exterior  was  hidden 
great  political  force.  Cavour  had  the  genius  of  the 
statesman,  together  with  practical  sense  and  great 
swiftness  of  detail;  and  though  but  for  the  others  he 
could  not  have  been  the  savior  of  Italy,  without  him 
Mazzini's  fanatical  effort  would  have  been  abortive, 
and  Garibaldi's  dexterous  strokes  in  arms  must  have 
resulted  in  failure. 

When  Francis  II.  of  Austria  died,  his  weak-minded 
brother,  Ferdinand  I.,  ascended  the  throne,  in  1835. 
He  was  so  much  of  an  imbecile,  however,  that  even 
the  mechanical  effort  of  signing  decrees  was  more  of  a 
task  than  he  felt  able  to  undertake,  and  thus  the  power 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Metternich. 

Several  plots  were  made  against  the  lives  of  rulers 
in  Italy  during  the  next  decade;  and  it  was  not  until 
this  time  that  the  Piedmontese,  realizing  that  their 
sovereign's  life  was  in  danger,  awoke  to  a  sense  of 
loyalty. 

Up  to  this  era  the  Popes,  who  had  always  been 
supported  by  the  Austrians,  were  naturally  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Liberals.  Pius  IX.,  the  successor  of 
Gregory  XVI.,  worked  on  a  new  basis,  however,  and 
declared  himself  a  Liberal,  proclaiming  general  am- 
nesty to  political  prisoners  and  promoting  liberty  of 


i8o         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

speech ;  and  it  soon  began  to  look  as  if  the  restorer  of 
Italian  freedom  walked  among  them  in  pontifical  garb. 
Italy  went  wild  with  enthusiasm,  much  to  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  radical  republicans,  who  were  the 
extremists  in  Rome;  and  frequent  disturbances  fol- 
lowed in  the  streets.  Cardinals  were  attacked  and  the 
Papal  Guards  and  police,  not  being  strong  enough  to 
put  down  the  riots,  were  obliged  to  accede  to  their 
demands. 

On  July  6,  1847,  tne  P°Pe  proceeded  to  form  a 
National  guard  throughout  the  Papal  States,  while 
the  Austrian  government  in  turn  despatched  an  army 
and  took  possession  of  Ferrara  in  spite  of  the  Papal 
legate. 

The  following  September  the  people  rose  against 
the  Bourbon  Duke  in  Lucca ;  and  Tuscany,  whose 
minister  was  Bettino  Ricasoli,  was  soon  roused. 
Events  became  more  critical  when  the  rulers  in  Parma 
and  Modena  were  forced  to  allow  Austria  to  garrison 
their  cities  as  a  defense  against  the  Liberals. 

These  were  a  few  among  the  series  of  events  which 
caused  Charles  Albert  to  turn  to  his  own  people  for 
support,  declaring  that  if  the  Austrians  dared  to  go 
further,  he  would  fight  to  the  death  for  Italy.  As 
early  as  1845  Massimo  d'Azeglio  brought  before  him 
the  hopes  of  Italian  patriots  and  their  expectation 
that  help  would  come  from  Piedmont.  The  king  then 
replied  without  hesitation :  "  Tell  these  gentlemen 
that  it  is  useless  to  act  at  present,  but  they  may  be 
sure  that  when  opportunity  comes,  my  life,  the  life  of 
my  son,  my  weapons,  my  treasure  and  my  army  shall 
all  be  used  for  the  Italian  cause." 

The  climax  was  reached  when  Austria  taxed  the 
Sardinian  kingdom  in  the  matter  of  wine  and  salt 


Italy  Aroused  181 

for  the  purpose  of  testing  her  subservience,  and  as  far 
back  as  the  time  when  the  Emperor  required  all  the 
Italian  rulers  to  be  present  in  Milan  to  witness  his 
coronation  as  sovereign  of  the  Lombardo- Venetian 
kingdom,  Charles  Albert  had  flatly  refused  to  accede 
to  the  demand. 

The  first  sound  of  the  new  revolutionary  movement 
came  from  Sicily,  the  ist  of  January,  1848;  and  by  the 
beginning  of  February  the  whole  island  was  in  a  flame 
of  revolt.  This  spread  to  Naples,  and  on  the  28th  of 
January  Ferdinand  II.  of  the  Two  Sicilies  was  obliged 
to  promise  a  Constitution.  The  excitement  advanced 
as  far  as  Piedmont,  and  Cavour  declared  that  a  Con- 
stitution must  be  demanded  and  a  statute  given.  This 
was  granted  by  Charles  Albert. 

These  demonstrations  were  re-echoed  in  Tuscany 
when  Leopold  II.  promised  a  Constitution,  and  on  the 
1 4th  of  March  the  Pope  granted  a  Constitution  in 
the  Papal  States,  a  ministry  having  been  previously 
established. 

During  the  first  of  January  the  Austrians  goaded 
the  Milanese  into  a  riot  about  the  tobacco  tax,  three 
score  of  the  inhabitants  being  slaughtered.  The  news 
of  the  Sicilian  revolt  and  of  the  Constitution  granted 
by  Ferdinand  II.  reached  the  north  about  the  same 
time  that  the  revolution  of  1848  stirred  the  whole  of 
Europe  in  a  great  struggle  for  freedom.  The  revolu- 
tion in  Vienna,  in  which  the  Constitution  was  de- 
manded and  finally  granted  by  the  Emperor,  followed ; 
and  Metternich,  who  had  control  of  Ferdinand's 
government,  and  who  had  once  said  contemptuously 
that  Italy  was  only  a  "geographical  expression,"  was 
obliged  to  flee  to  England. 

On  the  i8th  of  March  Milan  grew  wild  at  the  news 


1 82          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  these  successes,  and  the  people  formed  itself  into 
a  mob  against  the  soldiery,  barricading  the  streets, 
men,  women  and  even  children  coming  to  the  rescue 
of  the  insurgents.  On  the  2Oth  of  March  they  at- 
tacked the  Hungarian  garrison  under  General  Radet- 
sky,  and  he,  with  his  army  of  fourteen  thousand  men, 
having  been  driven  out  of  the  city  on  the  2ist,  Milan 
was  free.  On  the  22d  the  gate  of  the  city  was 
burned,  and  the  tricolored  flag  waved  from  the  highest 
point  of  the  Cathedral." 

When  the  news  of  what  was  going  on  had  reached 
Venice,  on  the  I7th  of  March,  the  people  broke  out 
into  a  riot,  demanding  that  those  incarcerated  for 
political  offenses  should  be  set  free;  and  on  March 
22  the  whole  city  arose  against  the  commandant  of 
the  arsenal,  a  provisional  government  being  set  up 
by  Danieli  Manin,  a  Venetian  Jew.  For  six  days  the 
conflict  raged,  and  General  Zichy  wrote  to  Vienna 
that  it  would  take  seventy  thousand  troops  in  addition 
to  his  eighty  thousand  to  quell  the  mob.  The  other 
principal  Venetian  cities  also  capitulated,  and  on 
the  22d  of  March,  1848,  "the  fall  of  the  Austrian 
dominion  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  Venetian 
republic  were  proclaimed  together  from  St.  Mark's 
Square." 

On  the  23d  of  March  immediately  following,  the 
news  flashed  over  the  country  like  lightning  that 
Milan  was  free  and  that  the  Austrians  had  retreated, 
a  messenger  arriving  in  Turin  to  implore  Charles 
Albert  to  send  an  army  to  help  defend  Lombardy. 
Count  Cavour  appeared  with  an  article  in  the  Ri- 
sorgimento,  saying  that  the  hour  had  arrived  on  which 
the  fate  of  the  Empire  and  the  destiny  of  the  people 
hung  like  a  thread,  and  that  "  doubt,  hesitation  and 


Italy  Aroused  183 

delay  were  no  longer  possible."  Then  the  crowd 
surrounded  the  royal  palace  at  Turin,  and  when  at 
midnight  Charles  Albert  appeared  with  the  tricol- 
ored  flag  in  his  hand,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people 
was  beyond  description;  for  at  that  moment  the 
"  dynasty  of  Savoy  and  the  Piedmontese  rule  were 
united  in  consecration  to  the  freedom  of  Italy." 

The  following  morning  Charles  Albert  issued  a  proc- 
lamation, saying  that  his  soldiers  were  now  ready 
to  send  that  aid  which  only  a  "  friend  can  give  a 
friend  and  brother  a  brother " ;  and  that  when  his 
troops  should  enter  the  Lombardo- Venetian  territory 
"  They  would  march  under  the  shadow  of  the  tri- 
colored  flag  with  the  armorial  bearings  of  Savoy." 

These  sentiments  awakened  a  response  all  over 
Italy.  Modena,  Reggio,  Parma,  Piacenza,  Tuscany, 
the  Pope,  and  even  the  King  of  Naples,  were  compelled 
to  pledge  their  support,  and  Sicily  dispatched  a  goodly 
number  of  volunteers.  In  all  the  decades  of  centuries 
of  Italian  history  this  was  the  first  time  that  Italy 
from  north  to  south  and  east  to  west  had  risen  with 
a  harmonious  sentiment  against  the  public  enemy. 


184          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  DEFEAT  OF  CHARLES  ALBERT. RESIGNS  IN  FAVOR  OF 

HIS  SON. HIS  MELANCHOLY  DEATH. — VICTOR  EMAN- 

UEL   II/S   LIBERAL  REIGN. CAREER   OF   CAVOUR. — 

LOUIS    NAPOLEON    RESTORES   THE   POPE. — MASSIMO 
D'AZEGLIO. 

1848—1859  A.D. 

THE  enthusiasm  attending  these  liberal  movements 
kept  Charles  Albert  firm  in  his  resolution  to  deliver 
Italy  from  the  yoke  of  Austria.  Volunteers  from  all 
parts  of  Italy  enlisted  under  his  banner,  and  in  the 
last  part  of  April,  1848,  at  the  head  of  seventy-five 
thousand  men,  he  joined  the  patriots  at  Milan.  In 
all,  ninety  thousand  volunteers  were  engaged  against 
the  fifty  thousand  veteran  soldiers  under  the  aged 
Radetsky,  who,  unfortunately  for  the  volunteers,  was 
a  host  in  himself.  Accordingly  the  struggle  dragged 
on  month  after  month,  until  finally,  when  Radetsky 
was  heavily  reinforced,  Charles  Albert  had  to  retire 
at  the  Battle  before  Santa  Lucia,  the  trouble  being 
that  he  exhibited  no  originality  of  action,  but  little 
discretion,  and  lacked  military  genius.  But  after  this 
he  successfully  besieged  the  fortress  of  Peschiera  and 
gained  a  victory  at  the  Bridge  of  Goito.  His  troops, 
however,  were  scattered  from  the  mountains  north  of 
Verona  to  Mantua ;  and  the  Pope's  army  in  June  had 
already  surrendered  to  Radetsky.  Still  Charles  Albert 
resisted  bravely,  with  half  of  his  army  at  Custoza  for 
three  days,  "  four  brigades  holding  their  own  against 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       185 

five  Austrian  army  corps,"  notwithstanding  that  they 
were  overcome  by  the  heat  and  many  other  demoraliz- 
ing circumstances.  But  at  last  he  was  completely 
defeated  on  the  25th  of  July. 

In  the  meantime,  events  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
peninsula  had  not  been  standing  still.  As  early  as 
the  29th  of  April  Pope  Pius  had  announced  his  in- 
tention of  withdrawing  from  the  contest  as  soon  as 
he  could  recall  his  troops,  who  were  already  engaged 
near  Verona  under  General  Pepe.  Ferdinand  II.  of 
the  Two  Sicilies  also  took  this  opportunity  to  retire ; 
and  the  rest  of  the  Italians,  jealous  of  Charles  Albert?s 
growing  power,  cooled  in  their  enthusiasm.  Venice 
had  formed  herself  into  an  independent  republic,  and 
in  Milan  the  more  advanced  Liberals  had  come  out 
against  the  king.  Charles  Albert  thus  found  himself 
fighting  alone  in  this  gigantic  struggle ;  and  all  these 
disagreements  served  to  rouse  discontent  in  the  ranks 
of  the  army,  interrupting  concerted  action  and  lessen- 
ing the  bravery  of  the  troops. 

Accordingly,  after  the  defeat  at  Custoza,  on  the 
25th  of  July,  when  Charles  Albert,  instead  of  pro- 
tecting his  retreat,  turned  toward  Milan,  still  unsuc- 
cessfully fighting  the  enemy,  his  entrance  as  he  ap- 
proached the  city  was  a  very  different  affair  from  what 
he  had  formerly  imagined — "  No  huzzahs  of  the 
people,  no  acclamations  of  victory  and  no  shouts  of 
triumph  met  his  ear.  Instead  of  these  he  saw  only 
anger  at  his  failure.  The  streets  were  barricaded, 
bells  tolled,  and  all  was  in  the  attitude  of  heroic  de- 
fense." Accordingly  the  officers  soon  decided  that 
it  would  be  folly  to  hold  out  any  longer,  and  terms 
of  capitulation  were  signed.  The  people  went  wild 
at  this  terrible  news,  some  even  imputing  disloyalty 


i86         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

to  Charles  Albert.  Then  the  latter  offered  to  fall 
fighting  with  the  Milanese  if  they  still  wished  to  re- 
sist. The  government  thought  best,  however,  to  ratify 
the  treaty  of  surrender,  and  that  night,  when  the  king 
tried  to  address  the  crowd,  guns  were  fired  and  the 
rage  of  the  exasperated  mob  was  so  great  that  Charles 
Albert  was  obliged  to  withdraw  secretly,  since  he  had 
left  the  greater  part  of  his  troops  outside  the  gates. 

Consequently  Charles  Albert  went  out  of  the  city 
on  foot,  many  Lombard  families  accompanying  him 
into  his  own  territory.  There  he  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, saying  that  he  was  not  unaware  of  the  aspersions 
with  which  some  would  tarnish  his  name,  but  that 
"God  and  his  conscience  were  witnesses  to  the  in- 
tegrity of  his  actions,  which  the  impartial  judgment 
of  posterity  would  justify."  He  said :  "  Every  pulsa- 
tion of  my  heart  has  been  for  Italian  independence, 
but  Italy  has  not  yet  shown  herself  strong  enough  to 
accomplish  this  alone." 

Thus,  in  less  than  half  a  year's  time  Italy  had 
learned  that  liberty  cannot  be  gained  contending  over 
barricades,  but  that  there  must  be  firm  and  harmonious 
action  to  insure  freedom  to  a  nation. 

The  House  of  Savoy,  now  in  dust,  could  no  longer 
think  of  governing  Sicily.  Accordingly  Charles  Al- 
bert's second  son,  the  Duke  of  Genoa,  declined  the 
crown  of  the  Two  Sicilies  just  proffered  him.  Before 
King  Ferdinand  was  victorious,  however,  nearly  ten 
thousand  Neapolitans  were  slain  in  a  riot,  and  the 
severest  measures  were  necessary  to  put  the  revolu- 
tion down;  the  Constitution  in  the  meantime  being 
sacrificed.  Finally  in  September,  1848,  Ferdinand 
bombarded  Messina,  and,  after  the  general  massacre 
usual  in  the  Sicilian  kingdom,  the  city  fell. 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       187 

It  was  said  that  the  reason  of  all  these  failures  was 
that  the  King  of  Sardinia  feared  a  victory  for  the 
republicans  more  than  Austrian  subjugation.  But 
Mazzini  at  this  very  time  comprehended  that  the  flag 
of  Italy  "  trailed  in  the  dust "  because  it  was  not  yet 
the  badge  of  the  republican  idea. 

Meanwhile,  after  the  Battle  of  Custoza,  all  the 
northern  kingdoms  had  been  subdued  by  the  Aus- 
trians,  although  the  famous  leader  Garibaldi  for  some 
time  kept  up  an  irregular  warfare.  This  wonderful 
adventurer,  having  been  exiled  on  account  of  com- 
plicity with  Mazzini,  had  been  leading  a  life  of  daring 
in  South  America.  Charles  Albert  had  refused  his 
services  in  the  beginning  of  the  disturbances,  because 
he  was  afraid  of  his  fanatical  republicanism;  but 
Garibaldi  sat  as  Deputy  from  Nice  when  the  Pied- 
montese  Parliament  met  in  1848.  He  joined  the  up- 
rising in  Milan  during  the  middle  of  July,  and  later 
with  his  volunteers  defended  Brescia,  until  he  was 
forced  to  retreat  to  the  Alps  the  following  October, 
having  ignored  the  armistice  of  1848,  which  Charles 
Albert  was  forced  to  make  with  the  Austrians. 

The  Moderate  faction  during  this  crisis  was  nearly 
crushed,  and  the  Pope  and  the  republicans  were 
anxious  to  push  matters  to  the  utmost.  Count  Pelle- 
grino  Rossi,  seeing  that  the  quarrel  would  give  the 
Austrians  an  advantage,  sought  to  mediate,  and  on 
November  15  he  was  struck  down  in  the  door  of 
the  Chamber.  The  people  broke  out  into  a  riot,  and 
the  Pope,  ten  days  later,  having  been  forced  to  form 
a  ministry,  escaped  in  the  disguise  of  a  footman  to 
Gaeta.  Here  he  put  himself  under  the  protection  of 
the  King  of  Naples,  and  sent  back  word  that  his  en- 
forced action  after  the  I5th  of  November  was  invalid. 


l88          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

On  the  5th  of  February,  1849,  m  a  Roman  Assembly 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  was  once  more  de- 
clared at  an  end.  A  republic  was  then  set  up,  the 
chief  place  being  occupied  by  Mazzini  as  one  of  the 
Triumvirate,  of  which  the  two  others  were  Saffi  and 
Armillini. 

The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  also  fled  to  Gseta  when 
the  Liberals  tried  to  compel  him  to  organize  a  State 
according  to  their  ideas  under  Guerazzi,  Montanelli 
and  Mazzini. 

After  Custoza,  Charles  Albert  declared  to  the  Brit- 
ish and  French  ministers,  when  they  wished  to  mediate, 
that  "  he  must  either  abdicate  or  see  an  Italian  re- 
public established."  He  said  that  he  had  thought  of 
giving  up  his  crown  after  the  campaign  of  1848,  but 
had  deferred  the  plan  from  a  desire  to  vindicate  his 
own  honor  against  the  aspersions  of  his  enemies.  But 
he  now  saw  that  if  he  fought  he  must  fight  alone,  and 
he  feared  this  was  useless. 

On  the  20th  of  March,  the  truce  having  been  set 
aside,  war  broke  out  anew.  The  Austrians  under  Ra- 
detsky  entered  Piedmont  with  eighty  thousand  troops, 
and  Charles  Albert  having  given  up  the  command, 
his  army  was  led  by  Czarnowsky,  a  Pole.  This 
proved  to  be  an  unfortunate  exchange,  and  as  a  result 
the  campaign,  from  a  strategic  point  of  view,  was  a 
failure.  The  Piedmontese,  after  one  or  two  successes, 
were  defeated,  first  at  Mortara,  and  then  in  the  ter- 
rible battle  at  Novara. 

It  was  a  dreadful  night,  that  23d  of  March,  when 
the  Piedmontese  soldiers  scattered  in  flight,  and 
Charles  Albert,  ascertaining  that  it  was  impossible 
to  continue  the  struggle,  saw  that  all  was  lost.  The 
terms  of  the  surrender  were  hard,  and  Charles  Albert 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       189 

would  have  gladly  died  fighting;  but  since  he  was 
denied  this  solace,  he  determined  to  leave  Piedmont 
forever.  As  he  departed  from  the  scene  of  his 
calamities  he  said  to  one  of  his  generals :  "  This  is 
the  last.  I  have  exposed  the  life  of  my  family  and 
myself,  and  imperiled  my  throne,  and  I  have  failed. 
I  am  now  the  only  obstacle  to  peace ;  and  since  I  can- 
not sign  the  deathblow  to  Italian  independence,  I  will 
make  myself  a  final  sacrifice  to  my  country;  and  ac- 
cordingly I  lay  down  the  crown  and  pass  it  over  to 
my  son,  the  Duke  of  Savoy." 

Not  waiting  for  daylight,  Charles  Albert  set  out  that 
night  on  his  self-appointed  exile,  and  a  few  months 
after,  this  heroic  monarch  died,  broken-hearted,  at 
Oporto  in  Spain.  His  pathetic  death  silenced  the  dis- 
cord of  party  strife ;  and  when  his  body  was  brought 
home  for  burial  on  the  Superga  Heights,  "  Italy 
recognized  his  sterling  virtue  and  made  him  her  patron 
saint.  Bands  of  pilgrims  journeyed  to  his  tomb,  and 
from  that  time  all  felt  that  to  do  honor  to  his  memory 
they  must  serve  Italy " ;  and  more  and  more  the 
people  pledged  themselves  to  fidelity  and  to  the  unity 
which  his  son  with  undeviating  energy  soon  brought 
about. 

Victor  Emanuel  II.  was  born  at  Turin  in  1820,  and 
was  brought  up  a  rigid  Catholic.  He  had  little  inclina- 
tion for  study  and  books,  but  later  threw  himself 
heart  and  soul  into  the  Italian  struggle  for  independ- 
ence. In  the  battle  at  the  Bridge  of  Goito  he  turned 
the  tide  of  battle  favorably  by  his  bravery,  and  in 
every  subsequent  encounter  he  was  seen  in  the  thickest 
of  the  fight.  He  had  withal  a  soldierly  bearing  and 
was  a  cheerful  and  jolly  companion,  his  qualities  being 
in  strong  contrast  to  the  melancholy  and  secretive 


190          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

character  of  his  father,  Charles  Albert.  He  was  very 
strong  physically  and  fond  of  the  chase;  and  many 
stories  are  told  of  his  life  as  crown  prince,  while  hunt- 
ing in  the  Val  de  Cogne.  He  knew  everybody  in  the 
region  personally  and  was  especially  fond  of  the  fair 
sex.  Inured  to  hardship,  he  astonished  his  companions 
by  his  power  to  endure  the  vicissitudes  of  rough  camp- 
ing life.  At  two  thousand  meters  above  the  sea  he 
would  camp  out  in  a  hunter's  tent,  rising  at  three 
o'clock  to  smoke  his  favorite  pipe  while  promenading 
in  the  icy  mountain  air,  all  the  time  laughing  at  the 
fears  of  his  suite  about  the  danger  from  exposure. 

For  the  purpose  of  checking  his  restless  habits,  a 
marriage  was  contracted  for  Victor  Emanuel  II.  with 
the  Archduchess  Adelaide  of  Austria,  a  kind  and 
genial  companion  whom  he  admired  and  always 
treated  with  confidence,  though  he  cared  nothing  for 
social  etiquette  and  position,  if  he  found  any  other 
lady  charming.  His  ministers  were  annoyed  by  his 
expensive  habits ;  but  he  understood  how  to  disarm 
criticism  by  a  quick  wit;  and  the  fact  that  he  finally 
opened  the  way  to  the  independence  and  unity  of  Italy 
was  atonement  for  all  his  shortcomings. 

Victor  Emanuel  II.,  when  he  first  ascended  the 
throne,  was  obliged  to  make  a  compromise  in  favor 
of  whatever  terms  Austria  placed  upon  him,  because 
the  most  powerful  fortresses  of  Piedmont  were  in  the 
latter's  hands.  On  the  24th  of  March,  1849,  he  went 
to  treat  in  person  with  Radetsky,  who  had  hoped  that, 
since  Victor  Emanuel  II.  had  married  the  daughter  of 
Archduke  Reinier,  "  the  tricolored  flag  would  disap- 
pear from  the  country  forever."  Disappointed  in  this, 
Radetsky  obliged  the  king  to  pay  fifty  million  dollars 
ready  money,  and  to  garrison  the  Sardinian  frontier 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       191 

between  the  Ticino  and  Sesia,  and  also  to  disband 
nearly  all  the  Piedmontese  troops  and  to  occupy  the 
fortresses  of  Alessandria  in  common  with  the  Aus- 
trians. 

After  the  defeat  of  Charles  Albert,  at  the  end  of 
October,  1848,  the  Austrians  had  moved  on  Venice, 
and  kept  the  inhabitants  defending  the  city  all  winter. 
General  Haynau,  who  had  already  rendered  his  name 
infamous  for  all  time  at  Brescia,  finally  removed  his 
forces  to  Venice  in  the  March  of  1849,  and  tried  to 
intimidate  the  government  into  surrendering;  though 
from  the  beginning  the  situation  was  hopeless.  On 
the  2d  of  April  the  Venetians  heroically  decided  not 
to  yield  until  the  last  resort.  Under  the  able  leader- 
ship of  Daniele  Manin,  they  made  the  day  of  their 
downfall  one  of  the  most  illustrious  in  history.  On 
the  night  of  the  4th  of  May  of  the  same  year,  after 
a  disastrous  attack  under  Marshal  Radetsky,  the 
victory  belonged  to  the  Venetians.  The  siege  was  kept 
up,  however,  for  months,  until  famine  was  added  to  the 
terrors  of  war;  but  it  was  not  until  cholera  succeeded 
famine  that  Daniele  Manin  consented  to  a  consulta- 
tion with  the  Austrian  envoys,  as  the  result  of  which 
hostilities  ceased  on  the  22d  of  August.  On  the  24th 
papers  of  surrender  were  endorsed,  and  on  the  3Oth 
Radetsky  celebrated  mass  at  St.  Mark's. 

Though  Mazzini  and  his  party  were  no  longer  in 
the  ascendancy,  the  course  pursued  by  such  men  as 
himself  and  Daniele  Manin  had  taught  the  masses  that 
with  perseverance  and  their  co-operation  the  longed- 
for  union  of  Italy  would  soon  become  an  accomplished 
fact.  Daniele  Manin  was  afterwards  banished  by  the 
Austrians  and  died  in  exile  as  early  as  1857.  Ten 
years  later  his  body  was  interred  on  the  north  side  of 


192          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

St.  Mark's  in  Venice,  where  the  inscription  on  his 
tomb  is  now  read  daily  by  interested  tourists. 

On  the  2Qth  of  March,  1849,  a  revolt  in  Genoa  was 
put  down  by  a  body  of  troops  under  Alphonso  la 
Marmora;  and  on  the  I2th  of  April  of  the  same  year 
Leopold  went  back  to  Tuscany.  But  he  disaffected 
the  Moderate  party,  who  had  reinstated  him,  by  re- 
turning under  the  protection  of  the  Austrian  militia, 
himself  clothed  in  an  Austrian  uniform.  Parma  and 
Modena  also  replaced  their  dukes  on  the  throne,  and 
King  Ferdinand  of  Naples  <  kept  his  subjects  trodden 
down  by  the  help  of  foreign  mercenaries. 

Soon  after  the  final  defeat  of  Charles  Albert  it  be- 
came evident  that  Austria  intended  to  take  possession 
of  Rome  and  restore  the  Pope;  and  she  gradually 
advanced  her  forces  as  far  as  Ancona.  In  the  De- 
cember of  1848  Louis  Napoleon,  having  succeeded  in 
obtaining  the  presidency  of  the  French  republic,  saw 
that,  though  opposed  to  the  Austrian  movement,  in 
order  to  have  the  support  of  the  Church  he  must 
reinstate  the  Pope  at  Rome.  He  now  despatched  to 
Italy  General  Oudinot,  who  landed  at  Civita  Vecchia 
in  April  with  twenty-eight  thousand  men  and  be- 
sieged Rome.  The  Romans  recalled  Garibaldi  and 
placed  him  in  command  of  their  forces.  Ferdinand 
of  Naples  with  his  troops  went  out  to  help  the  Papal 
army,  but  was  defeated  by  Garibaldi  at  Palestrina  on 
May  ii.  Garibaldi,  knowing  that  his  handful  of  vol- 
unteers could  accomplish  nothing  against  the  whole 
of  the  French  army,  temporarily  made  a  truce  with 
France;  but  General  Oudinot  declared  that  these  ne- 
gotiations were  not  valid,  and  for  nearly  four  weeks 
Garibaldi,  with  his  men  and  the  extemporized  Ro- 
man force  fought  outside  the  city.  On  the  I3th  of 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       193 

June  there  was  a  memorable  struggle,  in  which 
many  of  the  Liberals  fell,  thus  immortalizing  their 
names,  Goffredo  Mameli,  the  young  poet,  being  among 
the  number.  In  the  contest  the  French  made  a  large 
break  in  the  wall,  so  that  on  July  2  the  gates  of  the 
city  were  opened  to  them.  At  the  request  of  Na- 
poleon III.  all  the  great  works  of  art  were  spared. 

Garibaldi  with  five  thousand  men  escaped,  as  well 
as  Mazzini.  They  had  intended  to  carry  on  a  guerilla 
warfare  in  the  passes  of  the  Apennines ;  but,  finding 
himself  menaced  by  both  Austria  and  France,  Gari- 
baldi took  leave  of  his  men  in  the  territory  of  the  re- 
public of  San  Marino,  which  had  received  them  as 
refugees. 

In  a  little  street  on  the  summit  of  that  great  rock  on 
which  the  village  of  San  Marino  is  situated  there  is  a 
tablet  of  which  the  inhabitants  are  justly  proud.  It 
reads  from  the  original  Italian  like  this :  "  Soldiers, 
in  this  friendly  refuge  all  must  deport  themselves  in  a 
manner  which  shall  deserve  the  consideration  due  to 
the  unfortunate.  I  now  release  you  from  the  duty  of 
accompanying  me.  Return  to  your  homes ;  but  re- 
member that  Italy  must  not  remain  in  servitude  and 
disgrace."  This  was  written  on  the  3Oth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1849.  On  tne  same  waH  tnere  is  another  framed 
inscription,  with  the  date  of  1861,  probably  a  quotation 
from  a  letter,  which  says :  "  I  am  proud  to  be  a 
citizen  of  this  estimable  republic,"  and  another  writ- 
ten in  1864,  "  I  shall  always  hold  in  memory  the 
hospitality  of  San  Marino  in  the  hour  of  extreme  dan- 
ger to  myself  and  Italy." 

Three  hundred  of  Garibaldi's  followers  desired  to 
go  with  him  to  Venice  to  help  in  a  struggle  which  was 
then  going  on  with  the  base  Haynau  and  his  troops. 


I 

194         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Accordingly  they  procured  a  dozen  little  fishing 
smacks  and  set  out;  but  the  beautiful  night  proved 
unfortunate  for  the  wayfarers,  so  that  the  Austrian 
vessels  which  pursued  them  were  able  to  capture 
all  but  five  of  their  boats.  In  one  of  these  were  Gari- 
baldi and  his  wife,  who  had  heroically  shared  all  his 
trials  and  dangers.  She  was  ill,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  carry  her  in  his  arms  to  the  shore,  where,  having 
found  a  hiding  place  in  a  cornfield,  he  laid  her  down 
and  sent  his  companions  to  seek  shelter  somewhere  in 
the  mountain  passes.  Much  to  Garibaldi's  delight,  an 
old  companion-in-arms,  who  was  recuperating  amongst 
the  heights,  appeared  and  soon  helped  them  to  procure 
a  refuge  with  his  relatives.  Garibaldi's  wife,  already 
dying  from  fatigue  and  exposure,  expired  before  they 
could  summon  a  doctor,  her  last  words  being  loving 
messages  to  her  sons.  Garibaldi  was  obliged  to  leave  her 
to  be  buried  by  the  strange  cottagers ;  and,  after  much 
suffering,  he  reached  Genoa,  whence  he  embarked  for 
America.  He  remained  here  about  five  years. 

It  was  not  until  April,  1850,  that  Pope  Pius  IX.  was 
brought  back  to  Rome,  where,  guided  by  the  Jesuits 
and  supported  by  the  French  garrison,  he  kept  the 
people  under  martial  law  until  the  entry  of  the  Italians 
in  1870. 

The  Italian  insurrection  was  indeed  crushed,  and 
the  hopes  of  the  revolutionary  party  for  a  time  van- 
ished ;  but  the  assertion  of  d'Azeglio,  "  the  House  of 
Savoy  cannot  retreat,"  expressed  the  determination 
of  the  ruling  classes.  The  greatest  inspiration  to  all 
at  this  crisis  was  the  thought  "  that  the  defenders  of 
Rome  and  Venice  had  not  been  princes  or  nobles,  but 
men  of  the  people,  artisans  and  tradesmen,  as  well  as 
advocates  and  attorneys."  All  had  now  come  to  see 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       195 

that  the  regeneration  of  Italy  could  not  be  accom- 
plished in  a  moment ;  but  that  the  nation  must  first  be 
shaped;  and  all  agreed  that  the  task  must  be  en- 
trusted to  Piedmont,  since  she  alone  was  able  to  enlist 
reliable  volunteers  for  emergencies. 

Thus,  even  after  the  Peace  of  Novara,  the  moderate 
factions  looked  to  Victor  Emanuel  II.  to  save  Italy, 
and  people  believed  that,  although  his  father  had 
failed,  Victor  Emanuel  himself  would  triumphantly 
carry  on  their  cause. 

Austria,  feeling  that  Sardinia  was  a  protest  against 
her  tyranny,  fortified  her  boundaries  with  new  zeal, 
at  the  same  time  forbidding  Sardinia  to  take  up  arms. 
The  latter  replied  that  she  would  apply  to  France; 
and  Louis  Napoleon,  since  the  French  felt  that  they 
must  have  Sardinia  to  depend  upon  in  case  of  possible 
hostile  European  coalitions,  now  informed  Austria 
that  "  he  should  not  look  with  indifference  on  their 
invasion  of  Sardinia."  He  also  said  that  if  he  entered 
into  war  it  would  be  to  restore  Italy  to  independence. 
He  declared  that,  though  he  should  not  disturb  the 
Pope,  whom  he  had  re-established,  he  should  maintain 
order  on  legitimate  grounds;  and  accordingly  he  set 
two  hundred  thousand  French  troops  in  motion. 

Piedmont  under  the  new  king  had  already  a  Con- 
stitution, and  the  people  were  not  restricted  in  religious 
matters  nor  in  their  newspapers  and  books.  Victor 
Emanuel  II.  was  loyal  to  all  parties,  priding  himself  on 
the  epithet  of  "  The  Honest  King."  With  the  help  of 
his  chief  minister,  Massimo  d'Azeglio,  and  Camillo 
Benso  di  Cavour,  his  Minister  of  Commerce,  he  con- 
scientiously carried  on  the  reforms  begun  by  Charles 
Albert.  Ever  after  the  accession  of  Cavour  in  1852 
the  career  of  Victor  Emanuel  was  to  a  great  extent 


196         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

what  this  able  minister  made  it,  since  the  king  placed 
himself  largely  under  his  political  guidance,  as  a 
leader  every  way  capable  of  pioneering  the  State  to  a 
national  union. 

Vincenzo  Gioberti,  before  his  death,  the  preceding 
year,  had  written  a  book  which  pointed  out  Piedmont 
as  the  substantial  basis  for  a  united  Italy,  and  empha- 
sized the  mistakes  they  had  all  made  in  1848-49,  in  a 
manner  which  helped  all  Italian  statesmen  in  the 
future. 

The  Siccardi  Law  was  soon  put  in  force.  This  set 
aside  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  which  for  a  long  time 
had  stood  in  the  way  of  Italian  unity;  and  in  1854,  at 
the  instigation  of  Ratazzi,  monastic  bodies  were  sup- 
pressed. This  movement  was  a  great  blow  to  two  or 
three  thousand  ecclesiastics,  who  had  still  remained 
after  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  in  1848. 

Ratazzi,  the  advocate,  and  Cavour,  the  skillful  de- 
bater and  great  statesman,  at  first  worked  apart;  but 
finally  they  were  attracted  to  each  other  by  what  is 
called  the  "affinity  of  contraries  " ;  and,  together  with 
d'Azeglio,  they  played  a  most  important  part  in 
shaping  the  constitutional  government  of  that  era. 
D'Azeglio,  however,  thought  that  Cavour  was  advanc- 
ing too  rapidly  in  reforms  when  he  joined  the  demo- 
cratic party  in  Piedmont,  headed  by  Ratazzi;  and  in 
1853  he  resigned,  the  premiership  being  taken  by 
Cavour.  The  latter  forwarded  all  progressive  move- 
ments throughout  Italy,  but  he  gave  a  special  impulse 
to  Piedmont,  intersecting  the  country  with  railways 
and  telegraph  wires,  and  altogether  greatly  developing 
commerce. 

In  the  face  of  great  opposition  Cavour  favored  the 
alliance  with  England  and  France,  who  were  opposed 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       197 

to  Russia;  for  he  considered  the  latter  the  hot-bed  of 
despotism  as  well  as  an  enemy  of  Italian  freedom ;  and, 
besides,  he  knew  that  by  this  alliance  European  equi- 
librium would  be  better  maintained.  He  also  soon  saw 
that  otherwise,  in  order  to  secure  the  co-operation  of 
Austria,  these  powers  might  connive  at  her  encroach- 
ment in  Italy.  By  a  secret  stipulation  in  the  treaty  the 
French  and  English  were  to  cancel  the  obligation 
some  time  in  the  future  in  the  ever  impending  Italian 
strife.  Cavour  also  perceived  that  by  proving  her- 
self a  valuable  auxiliary  in  the  Crimean  War  Pied- 
mont would  acquire  the  respect  of  the  powers.  Ac- 
cordingly, taking  advantage  of  his  alliance  with 
England  and  France,  on  January  10,  1855,  fifteen 
thousand  troops  set  out  for  the  Crimea  under  Alphonso 
la  Marmora,  and  on  August  6,  "  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tchernaya,"  in  a  measure  "  redeemed  the  glory  of 
their  flag  from  the  shame  of  Novara." 

It  was  at  this  time  that,  within  the  same  week, 
the  king's  mother,  Maria  Theresa,  his  wife,  Adelaide, 
and  his  brother,  Ferdinand,  Duke  of  Genoa,  died. 
The  nation  sympathized  deeply  with  him ;  but  the 
clericals  regarded  it  as  a  just  visitation  upon  him  for 
having  so  lately  legislated  against  them. 

In  pouring  out  her  best  blood  and  treasure  in  the 
Crimea,  Piedmont  had  not  fought  for  conquest  or 
glory,  but  for  the  right  to  be  heard  in  behalf  of  Italy 
in  the  great  council  chambers  of  Europe.  Conse- 
quently in  1856  she  was  invited  to  take  part  in  the 
Congress  of  Paris.  Here  Cavour,  by  his  dignified 
bearing,  great  tact  and  keen  insight,  took  a  distin- 
guished place  in  the  deliberations  of  this  body.  He 
insisted  that  Italy  should  be  placed  on  the  same  foot- 
ing as  the  other  great  powers ;  and,  seeing  that  Austria 


198         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

intended  to  persist  in  her  course,  he  arraigned  her  at 
the  bar  of  European  opinion,  and  made  a  touching 
plea  in  behalf  of  his  oppressed  country.  He  reproached 
Austria  with  her  bad  faith,  enumerated  her  usurpa- 
tions, and  exposed  her  subterfuges.  He  depicted  the 
melancholy  condition  of  Piedmont,  overrun  by  foreign 
soldiery  and  subjected  to  a  military  despotism.  He 
then  cited  the  occupation  of  Venice  in  open  violation 
of  solemn  treaties,  charging  Austria  to  deny  his  as- 
sertions. 

Austria  assumed  a  defiant  attitude,  although  she 
was  able  to  make  but  a  lame  defense.  Lord  Claren- 
don, among  others,  was  much  excited,  telling  Austria 
that  if  she  refused  to  make  pledges  with  reference  to 
Italy  the  liberal  element  in  Europe  would  consider  it 
a  challenge  which  at  no  distant  day  would  be  taken  up. 

Furthermore,  Gladstone  reported  that  the  tyranny 
he  had  observed  while  waiting  for  an  audience  with 
King  Ferdinand  II.  in  Naples  in  1851  had  so  aroused 
his  ire  that  he  withdrew  without  seeing  his  Majesty; 
and  on  his  return  to  England  he  published  a  letter  he 
had  written  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  saying  that  the  Bourbon 
rule  in  the  Two  Sicilies  was  in  the  present  era  of  ad- 
vancement a  disgrace  to  humanity.  The  powers,  how- 
ever, remonstrated  with  Ferdinand  in  vain.  At  this 
Congress  of  Paris  the  Pontifical  rule  also  was  de- 
nounced as  a  scandal  to  Europe. 

About  this  time  some  of  Mazzini's  followers  tried 
to  organize  conspiracies  against  the  King  of  Naples; 
and  later  Baron  Francesco  Bentivegna  was  shot  for 
engaging  in  one  of  these.  There  were  also  many 
other  unsuccessful  plots,  which  proved  the  impossi- 
bility of  putting  down  despotism  by  mobs. 

On  the  i6th  of  April,  1858,  Cavour  in  the  Chamber 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       199 

defined  the  political  situation  since  1849.  He  declared 
that,  after  Novara,  Piedmont  might  have  gone  back 
to  the  position  that  she  had  held  in  1848 ;  but,  while  im- 
mediate prosperity  would  have  followed  from  that 
course,  she  would  have  "  sacrificed  all  the  glorious  tra- 
ditions of  the  House  of  Savoy,  and  would  have  repu- 
diated the  melancholy  but  magnificent  heritage  left 
them  by  Charles  Albert."  Cavour  told  them  that  the 
only  way  to  combat  such  perils  as  they  would  no  doubt 
provoke  in  the  jealousy  of  the  powers  by  supporting 
these  traditions,  was  on  the  field  of  battle  with  bat- 
talions and  fleets.  He  said:  "As  in  the  days  of 
Frederick  the  Great,  Fortuna  is  not  always  on  the  side 
of  justice ;  for  that  goddess  loves  to  befriend  the 
largest  armies  and  the  strongest  squadrons;  but,  lack- 
ing these,  our  nation  must  gain  the  support  of  reliable 
allies." 

Cavour  had  concluded  from  his  travels  abroad  that 
although  the  English  sympathized  with  Italy,  Great 
Britain  at  present  would  probably  only  give  them 
moral  support;  and  accordingly  they  must  depend 
upon  Napoleon  III.  as  an  ally.  Yet  it  was  difficult 
just  at  that  time  to  gain  Napoleon's  confidence,  since 
an  Italian,  Felice  Orsini,  had  shortly  before  made  an 
attempt  upon  the  latter's  life.  In  1858,  however, 
Cavour  and  Napoleon  formed  a  treaty  at  Plombieres, 
the  basis  of  their  future  alliance;  and  later,  in  1859, 
Prince  Jerome  Napoleon  came  to  Turin  to  arrange  a 
marriage  with  Princess  Clotilde,  Victor  Emanuel's 
eldest  daughter,  this  union  being  an  event  of  great 
political  importance.  In  the  March  of  1859,  in  an 
interview  with  Cavour  at  Paris,  Napoleon  made  the 
condition  that  he  would  only  intervene  between  Aus- 
tria and  Piedmont  in  case  of  the  latter  being  the  in- 


200         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

jured  party;  and,  accordingly,  Cavour  determined  to 
observe  the  same  tactics  with  regard  to  Austria  that 
Bismarck,  a  little  later,  practiced  in  his  dealings  with 
France,  namely  to  drive  the  Austrians  to  an  early 
declaration  of  war.  Victor  Emanuel,  therefore,  had 
notified  the  Austrian  Emperor  that  he  would  make  war 
on  Austria  unless  a  national  government  were  granted 
to  Lombardy  and  Venice.  Austria  immediately  re- 
called her  minister  at  Turin,  and,  commanding  the 
King  of  Sardinia  to  disarm  his  forces,  mobilized  an 
army,  which  was  sent  to  the  various  posts  on  the  Pied- 
mont frontier.  Thereupon  Cavour  despatched  mes- 
sengers to  Garibaldi  and  warned  him  to  be  ready. 

In  answer  to  an  accusation  that  a  bill  had  been 
brought  forward  for  raising  fifty  million  francs,  for 
the  purpose  of  involving  all  Europe  as  well  as  Sar- 
dinia in  war,  Cavour  recalled  the  policy  of  Victor 
Emanuel  since  1849,  which  was  never  to  provoke 
revolution,  but  to  develop  the  principles  on  which  the 
institutions  granted  by  Charles  Albert  were  based — 
those  of  liberty  and  nationality.  He  then  reminded 
them  that  after  the  Paris  Congress  events  had  war- 
ranted the  opinion  that  the  difficulties  of  the  Italian 
question  could  never  be  settled  "  by  pacific  and  diplo- 
matic means,"  and  that  later  proceedings  had  justified 
this  theory.  The  Sardinian  ministry  immediately  de- 
cided on  war. 

During  these  perilous  days  the  labor  of  Cavour  was 
herculean.  He  was  President  of  the  Council,  Minister 
of  Marine  and  Minister  of  War.  He  even  transferred 
his  bed  to  the  War  Office,  protracting  his  labors  far 
into  the  night,  hurrying  from  one  debate  to  another  in 
his  dressing-gown,  dictating  dispatches,  transmitting 
orders,  and  directing  the  operations  in  the  field.  He 


Struggle  for  Independence  Commences       201 

infused  a  portion  of  his  own  patriotism  into  the  hearts 
of  the  despondent,  say.ing :  "  Courage,  my  friends,  we 
will  give  to  Italy  the  regeneration  dreamed  of  by 
Gioberti." 

The  adroitness  of  Cavour  was  never  more  apparent 
than  at  this  epoch.  He  temporized  with  Mazzini,  if 
it  served  his  purpose,  and  proposed  terms  of  friendly 
alliance  to  the  Bourbons.  He  managed  his  coalition 
with  England  and  France  with  the  greatest  dexterity 
and  extended  a  hand  to  any  who  were  willing  to  co- 
operate with  him.  His  power  over  Napoleon  III. 
amounted  to  a  fascination,  compelling  him  to  engage 
in  a  war  which  he  neither  sought  nor  desired. 

As  the  republicans  in  Venetia  had  rushed  to  the 
standard  of  Daniele  Manin,  saying:  "  Regenerate  Italy 
and  we  are  with  you,"  so  the  noblest  of  the  Italian 
youth  now  flocked  to  the  standard  of  Garibaldi,  asking 
for  nothing  better  than  to  die  for  their  country.  Ac- 
cordingly thirty  thousand  volunteers  awaited  with 
swords  half  drawn  the  signal  to  rush  upon  the  Aus- 
trian legions. 

The  formal  announcement  of  hostilities  followed, 
and  Victor  Emanuel  roused  his  troops  to  enthusiasm 
by  the  following  speech :  "  Soldiers,  we  are  not  in- 
sensible to  the  cry  of  suffering  that  arises  from  so 
many  parts  of  Italy.  Austria  threatens  to  invade  our 
country,  and  dares  to  tell  us,  who  are  armed  only  in 
our  own  defense,  to  lay  down  our  weapons  and  put 
ourselves  in  her  power.  I  am  certain  that  you  are  pre- 
pared to  make  your  nation's  wrongs  your  own,  and  I, 
who  recognized  your  prowess  when  fighting  under 
my  magnificent  father,  will  be  your  leader,  convinced 
that  on  the  field  of  honor  and  glory  you  will  be  able 
to  justify  and  augment  your  military  renown.  You 


2O2         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

may  remember  with  pride  Pastrengo,  Goito,  Santa 
Lucia,  and  above  all  Custoza,  where  four  brigades  held 
out  three  days  against  five  army  corps.  Crown  with 
fresh  laurels  that  standard  which  rallies  from  all 
quarters  the  flower  of  Italy  to  its  three-fold  colors,  and 
points  out  your  task — that  sacred  enterprise  under- 
taken for  the  independence  of  Italy." 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed         203 


CHAPTER  XIV 

VICTORIES  OF   MAGENTA  AND  SOLFERINO. — DISGRACEFUL 

TRUCE  WITH  AUSTRIA  BY  NAPOLEON. CENTRAL  ITALY 

CEDED  TO  PIEDMONT. THE  TREATY  OF  VILLAFRANCA. 

NICE    AND    SAVOY    GIVEN    TO    FRANCE. GARIBALDI 

DELIVERS    KINGDOM    OF    NAPLES. THE    UNIFICATION 

OF  ITALY. — CAVOUR'S    DEATH. — SEPTEMBER    CONVEN- 
TION. 

1859—1861  A.D. 

npHE  Austrians  now  crossed  the  Ticino,  but  were 
A  defeated  by  the  Sardinian  army  and  General  Cial- 
dini.  On  the  loth  of  May  Louis  Napoleon  left  Paris 
and  embarked  at  Marseilles,  arriving  at  Genoa  on  the 
I2th,  twelve  thousand  troops  having  preceded  him; 
and  on  the  I4th  he  found  Victor  Emanuel  at  Alessan- 
dria with  sixty  thousand  Piedmontese  soldiers.  On 
the  2Oth  the  Austrians  were  defeated  by  the  French 
and  Piedmontese  at  Montebello,  and  on  the  3Oth,  hav- 
ing been  put  to  flight  at  Palestro  by  the  French  and 
Sardinians,  they  were  pursued  as  far  as  Magenta. 
Here,  on  the  4th  of  June,  the  whole  of  the  Austrian 
army  engaged  the  French,  and  this  fierce  battle,  cele- 
brated for  instances  of  bravery,  lasted  all  day.  All 
the  modern  tactics  of  war  were  employed,  and  there 
were  forty  thousand  men  either  killed  or  wounded. 
On  the  8th  of  June  Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  Napoleon 
III.  entered  Milan  in  triumph,  while  that  same  day  the 
Austrians  were  beaten  at  Melegnano,  and  Garibaldi 
entered  Bergamo.  "  He  had  been  the  last  one  to  leave 


204         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Lombardy  in  1848,  and  was  now  among  the  first  to 
re-enter  that  country." 

After  the  Battle  of  Magenta,  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph,  who  had  succeeded  his  brother  Ferdinand  I.  on 
his  abdication  in  1848,  assumed  command  of  the  Aus- 
trian army.  During  the  night  of  the  23d  of  June  the 
retreating  Austrians  took  a  stand  to  the  south  of  the 
Lake  of  Garda,  and  on  the  following  morning  they 
were  met  by  the  Franco-Piedmontese  army,  the  com- 
bating force  covering  a  line  of  fifteen  miles.  The 
Austrians  held  their  position  on  a  range  of  hills  over- 
looked by  Solferino  and  San  Martino ;  and  it  was  only 
after  a  terrible  day's  battle  that  the  French  succeeded 
in  occupying  Solferino,  on  the  24th  of  June,  1859. 
San  Martino  was  taken  and  lost  four  times  before  the 
Austrian  army  retreated,  protected  by  the  darkness 
resulting  from  a  terrific  tempest.  The  combatants 
were  reckoned  at  three  hundred  thousand,  one  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  of  whom  were  Austrians.  The 
total  loss  was  twenty-five  thousand. 

Francis  Joseph  now  retired  into  Venetia  behind 
fortresses  which  Austria  had  been  years  in  construct- 
ing for  such  an  emergency;  and  it  now  seemed  certain 
that  the  Austrians  would  be  headed  off  and  driven  out 
of  Italy.  But,  instead  of  this,  the  most  unexpected 
events  happened.  On  the  8th  of  July,  1859,  Louis 
Napoleon  demonstrated  the  inefficiency  of  his  weak 
character  by  ratifying  terms  of  peace  with  Francis 
Joseph  at  Villafranca  without  consulting  Victor 
Emanuel.  Austria  was  obliged  to  cede  only  Lombardy 
to  the  west  of  the  Mincio  to  the  King  of  Sardinia, 
leaving  Venice  out  in  the  cold;  whereas  Napoleon 
III.  had  agreed  to  free  Italy  from  the  Alps  to  the 
Adriatic.  According  to  the  treaty,  the  Italian  States 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed          205 

were  to  be  united  in  a  confederation,  with  the  Pope 
at  their  head,  and  Austria,  by  keeping  Venice,  would 
have  been  a  member  of  the  confederation.  The  Grand 
Duke  of  Tuscany  and  the  Dukes  of  Modena  and 
Parma,  all  of  whom  had  been  obliged  to  flee,  were  to 
be  restored.  But  none  of  these  weak  rulers  ever  re- 
turned, and  the  proposed  confederation  was  never 
realized,  since  these  duchies  under  their  provincial 
governors,  together  with  Romagna,  begged  Victor 
Emanuel  II.  to  annex  them  to  his  kingdom.  At  the 
loss  of  Romagna  and  the  Marches,  which  also  rebelled, 
the  Pope  sent  a  Bull  of  Excommunication  against  all 
his  enemies. 

Cavour  had  promised  Napoleon  III.  that  he  should 
have  Savoy  for  his  pains ;  and  now  the  latter  claimed 
it ;  for  he  thought  that  otherwise  from  a  military  point 
of  view  Savoy  was  highly  dangerous  to  him.  To  re- 
fuse such  a  command  from  his  only  remaining  ally 
would  have  been  madness,  and  Victor  Emanuel  II. 
was  obliged  to  consent  to  give  up  the  "cradle  of  his 
monarchy,"  as  well  as  Nice.  Garibaldi  was  so  grieved 
that  he  said  "  that  man  Cavour  has  made  me  a  stranger 
in  my  own  house."  Cavour  replied  with  deep  emo- 
tion :  "  I  know  that  between  General  Garibaldi  and 
myself  there  exists  an  unfathomable  abyss ;  but  I  was 
performing  the  most  painful  duty  of  my  life  when  I 
counseled  the  king  to  cede  Nice  and  Savoy  to  France. 
From  my  own  grief  I  can  realize  what  Garibaldi  has 
suffered,  and  I  can  well  afford  to  pardon  him  if  he 
cannot  forgive  me."  This  startling  controversy  took 
place  in  the  memorable  session  of  the  April  of  1860. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  the  Italians  forgave  the 
great  statesman  for  his  share  in  Piedmont's  losses, 
resulting  from,  what  seemed  to  them,  premature 


2o6          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

promises.  Outside  of  Italy,  too,  this  cession  of  Nice 
and  Savoy  caused  great  discontent,  since  by  the  treaty 
of  Vienna  these  provinces,  if  ever  separated  from 
Piedmont,  Were  to  be  annexed  to  Switzerland. 

The  Peace  of  Villafranca  was  so  great  an  affliction 
to  Cavour  that  he  grew  careworn  and  aged  greatly 
in  the  space  of  three  days;  and,  overcome  by  fatigue 
and  chagrin,  he  retired  from  the  Cabinet  to  his  villa 
at  Leri,  leaving  Ratazzi  to  open  a  new  ministry.  He, 
however,  saw  compensation;  for  Villafranca  had 
opened  a  new  vista — the  final  subjection  of  Austria 
and  the  unity  of  Italy;  and,  accordingly,  in  1860  he 
resumed  his  place  in  the  government. 

Though  Louis  Napoleon  did  all  he  was  strong 
enough  to  accomplish,  and  probably  what  was  the  best 
in  the  end  for  Italy,  it  has  been  a  great  question  why 
he  did  not  follow  up  his  advantage.  No  doubt  the  first 
and  greatest  reason  was  that,  although  he  favored 
Italian  freedom,  he  was  afraid  he  could  not  control 
Italian  politics ;  and  accordingly  he  arranged  a  con- 
federacy in  which  France  was  sure  to  have  the  ascen- 
dancy. Another  potent  explanation  for  his  action  was 
that  he  feared  there  would  be  an  alliance  between 
Austria,  Prussia  and  Great  Britain  against  himself  and 
Italy,  which  would  be  too  overpowering  to  meet;  and 
some  have  thought  that  besides  these  greater  influ- 
ences he  dreaded  the  hardships  and  horrors  of  pro- 
longed warfare. 

While  the  late  startling  events  had  been  going  on, 
Ferdinand  II.  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  who  had  acquired 
the  name  of  "  Bomba,"  from  his  frequent  assaults  upon 
his  people,  had  died  on  May  22,  1859,  detested  by 
everybody.  Throughout  his  whole  reign  he  had 
sought  to  keep  down  insurrections  through  fear,  shoot- 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed          207 

ing  revolutionists  in  the  streets  without  mercy,  and 
incarcerating  thousands  of  patriots,  besides  establish- 
ing a  police  system  under  which  no  one  was  safe.  It 
has  been  said  that  in  view  of  the  years  of  oppression 
which  Naples  endured  under  cruel  rulers,  it  is  no  won- 
der that  at  the  present  time  all  the  songs  in  southern 
Italy  are  in  a  minor  key. 

The  mother  of  Francis  II.,  the  new  King  of  the 
Two  Sicilies,  nicknamed  "  Bombino,"  was  Maria 
Christina,  whom  the  Neapolitans  called  the  "  Saint," 
on  account  of  her  forbearance  and  amiability.  She 
had  died  in  1836,  and  Francis  II.  was  brought  up  under 
the  Jesuits  by  his  Austrian  stepmother,  "  to  whose 
demoralizing  training  he  did  great  credit";  for  each 
year  exiles  from  his  tyranny  spread  tales  of  Bourbon 
cruelty  all  over  Europe.  A  strong  friendship  had 
existed  between  Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  Christina,  the 
boy's  mother,  and  the  king  advised  Francis  II.  not 
only  to  grant  a  constitution,  but  to  unite  with  Piedmont 
in  sending  troops  against  Austria.  Francis,  however, 
did  not  heed  his  counsel  until  it  was  too  late,  and  in 
1860,  when  he  might  possibly  have  consented  to  reform, 
a  revolt  in  Palermo  had  already  broken  out,  the  insur- 
rection spreading  through  Messina  and  Catania. 

Although  Garibaldi  feared  that  it  might  prove  a 
reckless  venture,  he  finally  consented  to  lead  a  Sicilian 
expedition,  already  fully  equipped  by  Augustino  Ber- 
tani  and  Giuseppe  la  Farina.  The  Sicilian  exile  Crispi 
and  Nino  Bixio  urged  him  to  go  on ;  but  Cavour,  who 
appreciated  the  advantage  to  be  gained  in  case  of  the 
success  of  such  an  enterprise,  took  no  active  part  in 
its  execution,  although  he  secretly  encouraged  it. 

General  Garibaldi,  with  twelve  hundred  volunteers 
called  "The  Thousand,"  set  sail  from  Genoa  the  5th 


208          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  May,  1860,  in  two  Italian  ships,  the  "  Lombardo  " 
and  "  Piemonte,"  of  the  Rubatino  Company.  Gari- 
baldi was  not  disheartened  at  the  ostensible  disap- 
proval of  the  government,  because  he  knew  that  suc- 
cess would  make  it  all  right  everywhere. 

On  the  nth  of  May  Garibaldi  stepped  out  upon  the 
beach  at  the  town  of  Marsala,  followed  by  his  men; 
and,  after  taking  possession  unopposed,  he  "  unfurled 
the  flag  of  Sicilian  independence  in  the  name  of  Victor 
Emanuel,  King  of  Italy."  Here  they  met  with  many 
curious  experiences,  one  of  them  being  at  the  tele- 
graph office.  "  The  operator  was  just  reporting  over 
the  wires  that  two  Sardinian  vessels  were  disembark- 
ing troops  in  the  harbor,  when  one  of  Garibaldi's  party 
who  was  an  expert  in  telegraphy,  pushed  him  aside  and 
finished  the  message  with :  *  made  a  mistake,  only  two 
trading  vessels.'  The  reply  to  this  was  brief  and  rather 
profane,  and  then  the  pseudo-operator  cut  the  wires." 

At  Salemi,  the  next  halt,  Garibaldi  declared  himself 
dictator  in  Victor  Emanuel's  name.  The  Neapolitan 
government,  now  alarmed,  telegraphed  to  General 
Landi,  at  Palermo,  to  meet  Garibaldi  with  a  large 
force;  and  the  struggle  which  took  place  at  Calatafimi 
was  most  terrible,  though  Landi  was  finally  defeated. 
After  a  week's  siege  Garibaldi  succeeded  in  getting 
possession  of  Palermo  by  strategy,  his  troops  entering 
on  the  27th  of  May.  Although  they  were  driven  away 
from  here,  they  again  defeated  the  king's  troops  at 
Milazzo  on  the  /th  of  June,  where  the  mountaineers 
and  peasantry  rallied  around  Garibaldi  during  the  en- 
gagement. The  conquest  of  Sicily  was  now  complete 
except  for  Messina,  which  continued  to  hold  out  even 
after  being  abandoned  by  King  Francis;  and  in  fagt 
it  never  really  surrendered. 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed          209 

The  Neapolitans  were  paralyzed  with  fear  and  the 
upper  classes  left  the  city,  all  mercantile  transactions 
being  suspended.  The  terrified  king  promised  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  his  people  and  begged 
Victor  Emanuel  to  put  a  stop  to  the  movement,  and 
the  latter  was  finally  obliged  to  send  word  to  Garibaldi 
not  to  cross  over  to  Naples.  Cavour,  fearing  that  the 
country  and  the  people  were  unprepared  for  so  sudden 
a  union,  would  far  rather  have  delayed  the  con- 
solidation with  the  south  for  awhile;  but  since  affairs 
were  so  well  started  he  wrote  to  Garibaldi  not  to  leave 
the  work  uncompleted,  and  at  the  same  time  he  himself 
did  all  in  his  power  to  secretly  precipitate  revolt  in 
Naples.  But  it  was  in  Potenza,  in  the  Basilicata,  that 
this  revolution  finally  did  its  effective  work;  for,  on 
the  i6th  of  August,  the  citizens  in  this  town  were  the 
first  to  raise  the  flag  of  Italian  independence. 

Thus,  when  Garibaldi  landed  on  the  shores  of 
Naples  with  his  heroic  followers,  thousands  were  there 
ready  to  unite  with  them,  and  the  insurgents  in  Umbria 
and  the  Marches  were  "listening  for  Garibaldi's 
bugles."  On  the  8th  of  September,  1860,  Garibaldi 
had  overcome  all  difficulties  and  entered  Naples.  All 
the  populace  at  the  windows  and  in  the  streets  wel- 
comed him  with  a  kind  of  delirium,  shouting,  weeping 
and  embracing  each  other,  amidst  loud  cries  of  "  Long 
live  Italian  Unity." 

"  Garibaldi,  having  inaugurated  a  provisional  gov- 
ernment, was  as  inconsistent  in  his  procedure  as 
the  wildest  of  the  throng.  He  launched  one  proclama- 
tion after  another;  first  expelling  the  Jesuits  and  then 
confiscating  the  goods  of  the  clergy,  and  at  last  abolish- 
ing lotteries  and  such  vices.  In  his  visionary  moments 
he  proposed,  after  the  reduction  of  Capua  and  Gseta 


210          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

to  march  upon  Rome,  liberate  the  Marches  and  Umbria, 
and  in  the  name  of  Italian  liberty  advance  from  vic- 
tory to  victory  until  he  could  unfurl  the  tricolored  flag 
upon  the  summit  of  St.  Mark's."  A  republic  might 
have  been  established  in  such  a  way,  but  more  likely 
chaos  would  have  followed,  instead  of  the  subsequent 
magnificent  consolidation  of  the  State,  since  there  was 
a  lack  of  concord,  and  an  exhausted  treasury  crippled 
the  government. 

There  were  fifty  thousand  troops  in  Naples  loyal 
to  the  Bourbon  dynasty,  and  ready  at  any  moment  to 
break  through  Garibaldi's  lines.  In  this  case  a  counter 
revolution  was  sure  to  follow.  Indeed,  on  the  ist  of 
October  Garibaldi  was  obliged  to  meet  such  an  emer- 
gency. 

Had  it  not  been  for  Cavour's  statesmanship  at  this 
time  these  complications  might  have  resulted  in  for- 
eign intervention ;  but,  acting  under  his  counsel  as 
prime  minister,  Victor  Emanuel  II.  now  took  a  more 
decided  stand,  and  sent  word  to  the  Pope,  whose  troops 
were  getting  troublesome,  that  he  was  about  to  rescue 
the  inhabitants  from  the  cruelties  Lamoriciere  was  then 
committing  in  Umbria  and  the  Marches.  Accordingly, 
on  September  u,  without  awaiting  a  reply,  the  Ital- 
ian soldiers  crossed  the  frontier  under  Cialdini,  and 
occupied  Perugia.  On  the  i8th  of  September  the 
Papal  army  was  beaten  at  Castelfidardo,  and  Lamo- 
riciere, having  fallen  back  on  Ancona,  was  obliged  to 
capitulate  on  the  26th  of  September. 

Piedmont  wished  to  immediately  annex  the  Neapoli- 
tan provinces  in  order  to  show  the  European  nations 
what  had  really  been  done.  Garibaldi,  however,  in- 
fluenced by  the  erratic  counsels  of  Mazzini,  as  well  as 
by  his  own  inclinations,  was  determined  first  to  liberate 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed          211 

Rome  and  Venice  and  also  to  get  back  Nice.  Cavour 
knew  that  all  this  could  not  be  accomplished  at  once, 
and  exclaimed :  "  Garibaldi  wishes  to  prolong  the 
revolution;  while  we  wish  to  end  it."  So  the  breach 
between  the  two  great  men,  which  had  arisen  at  the 
time  of  the  cession  of  Nice  to  France,  was  greatly 
widened ;  and  the  position  became  uncomfortable  to 
Garibaldi,  especially  as  he  was  accustomed  to  adula- 
tion accorded  so  freely  and  exhibited  so  unreservedly 
by  the  people  of  the  south  because  he  had  done  so 
much  for  them.  "The  badge  of  the  Garibaldian 
volunteer  was  to  them  a  greater  inspiration  than  the 
gray  coat  of  the  Piedmontese,  the  ensigns  of  order, 
for  which  they  were  not  ready."  It  was  partly  to  con- 
ciliate Garibaldi  and  keep  him  from  moving  on  Rome, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  keep  control  of  the  revolution, 
that  the  king  had  sent  troops  into  the  Papal  States. 

King  Francis  II.  of  the  Two  Sicilies  replied  to  all 
advances  made  by  the  new  government :  "I  do  not 
understand  what  you  mean  by  the  independence  of 
Italy;  I  only  recognize  the  independence  of  Naples." 
Until  it  was  too  late  he  refused  all  alliance  with  Ca- 
vour, and  on  the  6th  of  September  fled  to  Gaeta,  which 
he  now  prepared  to  defend  with  an  army  of  thirty 
thousand  against  a  siege  begun  by  the  Sardinians  in 
1860. 

On  the  26th  of  October,  1860,  Victor  Emanuel  II. 
met  Garibaldi  in  the  country  near  Teanum,  and  was 
greeted  by  the  "  red-shirted  volunteer  "  as  King  of 
Italy.  The  king  and  Garibaldi  seated  side  by  side 
made  their  triumphal  entry  into  Naples.  Through  the 
influence  of  the  provisional  government  Garibaldi 
became  reconciled  to  the  Kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies 
being  united  to  the  Sardinian  kingdom;  and,  accord- 


212          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

ingly,  a  bill  was  passed  to  that  effect  by  a  unanimous 
vote  of  the  people.  The  great  revolutionist  now  volun- 
tarily laid  aside  his  dictatorial  dignity  and  retired  to 
Caprera  with  a  disinterestedness  worthy  of  an  old 
Roman ;  and  "  the  sword  left  by  the  Ghibelline  leader, 
Castruccio  Castracani,  as  a  legacy  to  him  who  should 
become  the  liberator  of  his  country  "  was  given  over 
to  Victor  Emanuel  II.  The  latter  was  then  proclaimed 
King  of  Italy  by  the  "  Grace  of  God  "  and  the  will  of 
the  people. 

When  Victor  Emanuel  II.  made  his  opening  speech 
at  Turin  in  the  February  of  1861,  he  expressed  special 
appreciation  in  the  name  of  the  Italian  people  for  the 
kindly  attitude  which  the  English  had  exhibited  toward 
them  in  their  recent  struggle  for  liberty.  Up  to  this 
time  Victor  Emanuel  had  simply  been  recognized  as 
King  of  Sardinia ;  but  on  his  birthday,  the  I4th  of 
March,  1861,  Parliament,  by  acclamation,  declared  him 
King  of  Italy;  and  on  the  i7th  of  the  same  month  the 
enactment  was  put  on  record  as  one  of  the  statutes. 
Soon  afterwards  this  title  was  acknowledged  by  Eng- 
land, and  a  little  later  by  Switzerland  and  the  United 
States. 

On  the  2d  of  November,  1860,  the  fortress  of  Capua 
had  been  taken ;  but  Gseta,  the  brave  defense  of  whose 
garrison  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  events  of 
the  period,  could  not  be  seized  on  account  of  the  pro- 
tection of  the  French  fleet.  Napoleon  III.,  however, 
on  being  reminded  that  he  was  violating  his  neutrality, 
withdrew  his  squadron. 

It  was  three  months  after  Francis  II.'s  succession  to 
the  throne  that  the  last  insurrection  in  Naples  broke 
out;  and,  when  in  September  of  1860  he  fled  in  a 
Spanish  ship  to  Gaeta,  his  noble  wife,  a  sister  of  the 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed         213 

late  Empress  Eliza  of  Austria,  compelled  him  during 
the  long  siege  of  five  months,  to  take  a  stand.  It  was 
she  who  furnished  "all  the  inspiration,  brains,  cour- 
age and  strength  of  the  defense  "  against  the  greatly 
superior  force.  She  appeared  constantly  on  the  bat- 
tlements to  cheer  the  garrison  and  direct  the  opera- 
tions; and,  though  the  weak,  cowardly  king  kept  out 
of  sight,  she  made  herself  everything  that  he  ought 
to  have  been  to  the  defenders.  Europe  looked  on 
"amazed  at  this  modern  mediaeval  fighting  queen," 
a  bride  of  only  two  months,  and  hardly  older  than  a 
girl  in  her  teens.  After  Napoleon  had  withdrawn  his 
fleet,  they  were  finally  obliged  to  surrender,  from  want 
of  food  and  ammunition  and  men  to  fight;  but  the 
enemy  recognized  her  bravery  and  accorded  the  sur- 
vivors all  the  honors  of  war.  She  was  afterwards 
made  a  member  of  the  Russian  Order  of  St.  George, 
reserved  for  those  who  have  displayed  conspicuous 
bravery  in  battle. 

Queen  Maria,  ex-queen  of  Naples,  has  continued 
one  of  the  most  romantic  figures  in  Europe  up  to  the 
present  time.  Soon  after  their  defeat  she  and  Francis 
II.  went  to  Rome  and  held  court  in  the  Farnese  Palace, 
and  afterwards  to  Paris,  the  home  of  exiled  sovereigns. 
After  that  time,  until  the  death  of  the  ex-king  in  1894, 
they  were  often  in  great  straits  in  order  to  supply  the 
former  ignoble  ruler  with  the  means  for  riotous  living, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  his  wife  had  earlier  inherited 
a  fortune  from  her  mother.  Ex-queen  Maria  is  an 
expert  in  boating;  and  in  1900  received  a  medal  for 
her  bravery  in  saving  the  lives  of  three  perishing 
sailors  whom  she  had  drawn  from  the  surf  into  her 
own  boat  just  as  they  were  sinking. 

Several  of  the  States  of  Europe  expressed  their  dis- 


214         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

pleasure  at  the  invasion  of  the  Papal  States  and  the 
annexation  of  the  southern  provinces,  by  removing 
their  ambassadors ;  and  many  of  the  European  powers 
met  at  Warsaw  in  October  of  1860  to  discuss  what 
action  should  be  taken  against  Piedmont.  England, 
however,  came  to  the  rescue  and  took  a  public  stand 
in  favor  of  Italy,  Lord  Palmerston  announcing  that 
the  Italian  people  had  the  sympathy  and  good-will  of 
Great  Britain.  To  further  reward  the  French  Em- 
peror for  his  part  in  forming  the  Italian  kingdom, 
Monaco  was  added  to  a  French  department  made  of 
Nice,  and  in  return  France  acknowledged  Victor 
Emanuel  as  King  of  Italy.  Thus  the  first  part  of 
the  great  drama,  in  which  Garibaldi  had  brought  free- 
dom to  Naples  and  Sicily,  closed. 

When  Garibaldi  retired  to  Caprera  the  lower  classes 
were  not  satisfied,  since  they  had  no  confidence  in  the 
new  government  and  were  offended  in  many  respects 
by  Cavour's  general  policy,  as  well  as  at  his  late 
attitude  against  the  convents. 

In  the  Parliament  of  March  of  the  same  year  the 
breach  between  Cavour  and  Garibaldi  was  widened 
when  the  question  of  the  rank  of  the  Garibaldian 
officers  came  up,  and  it  appeared  as  though  their  ser- 
vices had  not  been  appreciated.  This  aroused  Gari- 
baldi, and  he  rushed  to  Turin,  declaring  in  the  Chamber 
that  he  would  never  again  shake  hands  with  Cavour. 
The  king,  much  grieved,  soon  brought  about  a  recon- 
ciliation through  a  letter  which  Garibaldi  at  last  con- 
sented to  send  Cavour  on  the  i8th  of  May,  1861,  just 
before  Cavour's  death.  In  the  epistle  Garibaldi  recog- 
nized the  latter's  "  superior  capacity,"  and  said  that  he 
should  gladly  await  Cavour's  "  summons  to  a  field  of 
action." 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed          215 

Like  all  new  governments,  it  was  not  always  smooth 
sailing  for  the  Italian  "  ship  of  State."  The  difference 
in  the  character  and  training  of  the  people  in  the 
north  and  south  showed  itself  in  many  ways  and  was 
the  occasion  of  much  discord.  Victor  Emanuel  found 
it  necessary  to  put  into  office  those  who  had  held  posi- 
tions under  the  Bourbons,  and  these  were  not  always 
trustworthy;  and,  besides,  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
grumbling  among  the  higher  classes  in  Naples,  be- 
cause reforms  did  not  go  on  so  fast  as  the  Neapolitans 
desired.  Thus  many  could  not  see  that  they  were  bene- 
fited much  by  belonging  to  Piedmont,  especially  as  in 
doing  so  they  had  sacrificed  Naples  as  a  gay  capital. 

Brigandage  had  now  become  very  common  in  the 
Abruzzi  and  the  Basilicata.  The  brigands  pretended 
that  they  belonged  to  the  army  of  Francis  II.,  calling 
themselves  generals  and  colonels  of  the  king,  in  order 
that  they  might  find  an  asylum  in  the  Pope's  territory. 
During  the  summer  of  1861  these  armed  robbers  be- 
came so  adroit  that  even  Naples  was  not  considered 
a  safe  place.  "  They  fired  at  railway  trains,  sacked 
villages,  slaughtered  cattle  and  attacked  and  slew  men 
in  their  own  dwellings,  often  carrying  off  wealthy 
prisoners  in  order  to  obtain  a  large  ransom.  The 
line  between  the  soldier  and  the  brigand  and  the 
brigand  and  the  common  laborer  was  very  closely 
drawn,  since  the  peasant  as  he  worked  in  his  garden 
had  a  gun  in  his  hand  and  used  it,  as  became  necessary, 
along  with  his  spade." 

Oftentimes  the  real  officers  of  the  King  of  Naples 
did  not  hesitate  to  act  with  the  brigands,  and  one 
Don  Jose  Borges,  a  Spanish  adventurer,  enlisted  with 
them,  expecting  in  truth  to  restore  the  Bourbon  rule 
in  the  Two  Sicilies.  He  soon  perceived,  however,  that 


216         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

it  was  only  lawlessness  and  plunder  that  animated  the 
gang;  and  seeing  that  the  king's  cause  was  not  ad- 
vanced he  determined  to  leave  them.  But  before  he 
could  accomplish  this  they  stripped  him  of  everything, 
and,  while  he  was  hastening  to  inform  Francis  II. 
about  the  character  of  his  retainers  he  was  shot.  King 
Francis  II.,  while  living  in  Rome  after  his  downfall, 
was  in  the  habit  of  sending  arms  as  well  as  officers 
and  men  to  reinforce  the  most  infamous  malefactors, 
such  as  those  just  spoken  of,  and  others  like  Ciprian, 
Lagala,  etc.  Many  thousand  brigands  joined  these 
leaders,  and  one  band  took  the  little  village  of  Melfi. 

These,  with  other  difficulties,  gradually  disappeared 
before  the  energy  and  good  sense  of  Victor  Emanuel 
II.  and  his  ministers,  all  classes  having  learned  that 
they  could  trust  the  new  sovereign;  and  the  great 
progress  socially  and  politically  reconciled  the  Neapoli- 
tans to  the  loss  of  what  they  considered  their  former 
privileges. 

Two  momentous  questions  still  demanded  solution, 
Rome  and  Venice ;  for  the  unspeakable  anguish  which 
the  Venetians  felt  in  being  abandoned  kept  them  ever 
on  the  alert  to  take  advantage  of  any  opportunity  to 
gain  their  freedom. 

The  activity  of  Count  Cavour  during  the  year  1860, 
after  he  again  accepted  the  premiership,  was  simply 
marvelous,  and  the  expenditure  of  nervous  force  no 
doubt  hastened  his  death.  His  work  throughout 
evinced  the  kindness  of  his  heart  and  exhibited  his 
purpose  to  follow  right  and  justice.  He  at  one  time 
wrote  to  the  guardian  of  the  seal,  "  The  statesman  who 
is  not  ready  to  sacrifice  even  his  good  name  for  his 
country  is  not  worthy  to  govern  his  peers."  Again 
he  writes :  "  My  experience  of  thirteen  years  con- 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed         217 

vinces  me  that  an  honest,  energetic  ministry,  which  does 
not  fear  the  press,  or  let  itself  be  influenced  by  extreme 
parties,  has  much  to  gain  from  parliamentary  contests 
and  debates.  I  would  not  betray  my  trust  or  deny  the 
principles  of  my  life.  I  am  the  son  of  Liberty  and  owe 
her  all  that  I  am.  If  a  veil  is  to  be  placed  over  her 
statue,  it  will  not  be  I  who  do  it." 

No  one  suffered  more  than  Cavour  from  unbridled 
license  of  the  press ;  yet  he  persistently  refused  to  have 
it  muzzled.  He  abolished  the  duties  according  to  his 
doctrine  of  free  trade,  while  at  the  same  time  as  Minis- 
ter of  Finance  this  compelled  him  to  see  the  revenues 
decreasing.  Notwithstanding  his  liberal  tendencies,  he 
favored  a  monarchy  rather  than  a  republic  for  Italy; 
yet,  though  noble  himself,  he  held  birth  and  position 
lightly. 

The  Papal  government  was  now  rapidly  crumbling 
to  pieces,  and  all  saw  that  the  first  attack  of  the  Italian 
troops  would  wind  up  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope. 
While  the  Bourbon  army  was  still  in  the  field,  Cavour 
spoke  in  the  Chamber  on  the  necessity  of  Rome  be- 
coming the  capital  of  Italy.  He  showed  that  it  held 
within  itself  all  the  elements  that  the  chief  city  of  a 
great  State  needed;  and  in  another  speech  made  in 
1861  he  closed  by  saying  that  everything  pointed  to 
Rome,  with  its  renown  of  twenty-five  centuries,  as  the 
glorious  capital.  With  regard  to  the  Church,  he  said, 
that  liberty,  being  favorable  to  the  development  of 
genuine  religion,  the  Church  would  lose  nothing  by 
the  amalgamation  of  Rome  and  Italy,  and  that  the  Holy 
Father  would  sacrifice  nothing  by  giving  up  his  tem- 
poral power;  on  the  other  hand  he  would  gain  greater 
liberty  than  that  which  he  had  sought  from  the  Catho- 
lic powers  and  had  never  been  able  to  gain  from 


218         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

"  concordats."  He  also  said  that  all  enlightened 
Catholics  must  see  that  His  Holiness  would  be  able 
to  exercise  the  duties  of  his  office  more  freely  and  in- 
dependently, supported  by  the  affection  of  millions  of 
the  Italian  people  than  by  twenty-five  thousand  bayo- 
nets. Near  the  close  of  his  speech,  the  last  he  ever 
made  in  the  Chamber,  he  said :  "  All  the  world  knows 
how  to  govern  by  martial  law ;  I  would  rule  by  means 
of  liberty  " ;  and  then  he  gave  utterance  to  the  same 
words  which  a  short  time  after  were  on  his  lips  in 
death :  "  Liber  a  Chiesa  in  libero  Stato "  (A  free 
Church  in  a  free  State). 

Cavour's  strength  had  gradually  failed  under  the 
long  strain  incident  to  the  changes  in  the  government 
of  Italy.  On  the  eve  of  the  2d  of  June,  the  day  ap- 
pointed and  still  kept  by  the  government  as  a  national 
holiday  in  commemoration  of  the  accomplishment  of 
Italian  unity,  Cavour  returned  home  tired  and  worn, 
and  was  soon  after  taken  dangerously  ill.  The  court- 
yard of  his  palace  was  continually  thronged  with  a 
sympathizing  crowd  until  the  small  hours  of  the  night, 
while  the  telegraph  was  kept  busy  sending  medical 
bulletins  all  over  Europe. 

In  his  delirium  Cavour  often  called  for  his  private 
secretary,  saying  to  his  physician :  "  Cure  me  at  once ; 
my  time  is  precious ;  for  I  have  all  Italy  on  my  shoul- 
ders." He  was  very  anxious  about  the  southern 
States,  which  then  presented  the  same  vexing  questions 
as  at  the  present  time.  He  said  to  the  king,  who  was 
almost  constantly  with  him  in  his  last  sickness :  "  The 
north  is  complete,  there  are  no  longer  Lombards, 
Piedmontese  or  Tuscans,  we  are  all  Italians;  but  alas, 
there  are  still  Neapolitans.  Many  of  them  are  very 
corrupt,  poor  fellows,  but  it  is  not  their  fault;  they 


The  Unification  of  Italy  Completed         219 

must  be  purged  again  and  again."  This  was  very 
significant  and  intelligible  to  those  who,  since  1861, 
have  witnessed  the  patience  required  to  bring  order  out 
of  chaos  in  this  section.  Cavour  then  said :  "  In  twenty 
years  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  will  contain  the  richest 
provinces  in  Italy."  In  delirium  he  went  on :  "  Gari- 
baldi is  a  gentleman.  I  wish  him  well.  He  rushed  to 
the  aid  of  Rome  and  Venice;  but  that  donkey  of  a 
Ferdinando,  [meaning  Francis  II.],  his  is  such  a  cor- 
rupt government  that  Providence  cannot  permit  it  to  be 
restored.  Moral  influence  must  be  introduced  and  the 
youth  educated.  They  covet  badges  of  honor.  If  they 
are  patriotic  and  honest,  I  will  buy  their  badges  for 
them  and  forward  their  promotion,"  etc. 

Cavour  died  in  June,  1861,  and  Victor  Emanuel 
'desired  that  he  should  be  buried  in  the  cemetery  of 
the  Royal  House  of  Savoy  in  the  Superga,  but  the  great 
statesman,  in  accordance  with  his  own  request,  was 
interred  in  his  family  tomb  at  Santena  in  the  village 
of  Chieri. 

In  personal  appearance  Cavour  was  of  medium 
stature  and  rather  stout.  He  had  a  broad  forehead  and 
wore  glasses.  He  was  quick  and  energetic  in  his 
movements,  and,  although  sometimes  his  smile  was 
ironical,  his  countenance  as  a  whole  was  expressive  of 
benignity.  Simple  in  his  manners,  but  dignified  in  his 
bearing,  he  would  have  been  recognized  anywhere  as  a 
country  gentleman  familiar  with  court  usage.  He 
believed  in  his  mission  to  save  Italy;  and  even  though 
he  often  changed  his  tactics,  he  never  for  a  moment 
lost  sight  of  the  objective  point.  He  was  clear  in  his 
statements,  but  wholly  lacked  the  ideality  and  sentiment 
of  such  enthusiasts  as  Mazzini. 

There  had  been  differences  of  opinion  between  the 


22O         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

two  great  men  who  worked  together,  but  such  were 
soon  settled,  Cavour  acknowledging  that  Victor 
Emanuel  alone  could  unite  Italy;  while  the  king  de- 
clared that  the  settlement  of  political  differences  in 
Piedmont  was  due  to  the  great  statesman.  Indeed,  one 
of  Victor  Emanuel's  important  services  to  Italy  was 
his  recognition  of  Cavour's  wonderful  genius,  shown 
in  giving  him  absolute  freedom  of  action  without 
reference  to  personal  preferences. 

Time  has  proved  how  high  Cavour  ranks  in  the  role 
of  Europe's  statesmen ;  and  the  development  of  Italian 
history  since  1860  corroborates  the  common  verdict 
that  "  no  statesman  ever  so  wisely  directed  the  desti- 
nies of  any  nation  on  the  road  to  constitutional  liberty." 
Cavour  was  hardly  second  in  diplomacy  to  Bismarck, 
whom  he  greatly  resembled;  and  in  strength  and 
straightforwardness  he  had  no  equal.  Many  con- 
temporaries wrote  eulogistic  notices  of  his  character 
after  his  death,  all  agreeing  that  he  would  receive 
eternal  honors  from  posterity,  and  that  his  name  would 
live  as  long  as  the  deeds  of  heroes  are  recorded  in 
history ;  and  it  is  since  apparent  to  all  that  his  memory 
is  every  year  becoming  more  and  more  imperishable. 


Venice  Given  up  by  Austria  221 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  UNITED  KINGDOM  OF  ITALY. — CAPITAL  REMOVED 
FROM  TURIN  TO  FLORENCE. ALLIANCE  WITH  PRUS- 
SIA.— PRUSSIAN  ARMY  VICTORIOUS  AT  KONIGGRATZ. 

AUSTRIA  GIVES  UP  VENICE. ITALIAN  ARMY  DE- 
FEATED AT  CUSTOZA,  ETC. — END  OF  SEPTEMBER  CON- 
VENTION.  POPE  YIELDS  TO  SUPERIOR  FORCE  AND 

GIVES  UP  TEMPORAL  POWER. — THE  PAPAL  STATES 
AMALGAMATED. 

1861—1870  A.D. 

AT  the  death  of  Cavour  the  consolidation  of  Italy 
had  in  reality  been  accomplished.  Such  able 
statesmen  as  Ricasoli,  Minghetti,  Ratazzi,  Farini,  La 
Marmora,  Lanza  and  Crispi,  and  others  who  succeeded 
him,  tried  to  carry  out  his  policy,  but  none  of  them 
approached  him  in  coolness  of  judgment  and  thorough- 
ness of  execution. 

The  last  struggle  for  Italian  liberty  took  place  in 
Rome,  where  the  early  history  of  Italy  began.  Ricasoli 
formed  a  conservative  government,  and  Ratazzi  led 
the  opposition,  while  Garibaldi  swore  never  to  rest 
until  Rome  and  Venice  were  free ;  and,  together  with 
Mazzini,  he  was  ready  for  any  act  which  would  bring 
about  the  desired  results  the  most  speedily.  These  two 
men  both  wanted  to  take  from  the  Pope  his  spiritual 
as  well  as  his  temporal  power,  and  to  confiscate  all  the 
property  of  the  Church.  It  was  even  suspected  that 
they  were  opposed  to  a  constitutional  monarchy,  and 
would  have  been  glad  to  dethrone  Victor  Emanuel  and 


222          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

establish  a  radical  democracy.  Although  Ratazzi,  the 
former  minister  of  Charles  Albert,  did  not  wholly 
agree  with  Garibaldi,  his  party  at  times  allied  them- 
selves with  the  Garibaldians,  thinking  that  the  State 
would  grant  a  subsidy  for  a  speedy  expedition  to  gain 
Venetia.  When,  however,  Ratazzi  succeeded  Ricasoli 
as  minister,  he  changed  his  policy,  in  the  hope  that,  by 
taking  a  more  conservative  course  like  Cavour,  he 
would  run  no  risk  in  the  event  of  failure  and  receive 
the  benefits  of  success  in  case  of  a  prosperous  issue. 
But  he  was  not  so  tactful  as  Cavour  had  been  in  his 
dealings  with  Napoleon. 

In  1862  Garibaldi  raised  a  volunteer  army  of  twenty- 
five  hundred  men.  Napoleon,  regarding  this  as  a  men- 
ace, ordered  Ratazzi  to  stop  him;  and  the  latter,  in 
order  to  conciliate  Napoleon,  sent  out  against  Gari- 
baldi government  troops  under  Cialdini,  who  was  de- 
feated by  the  volunteers  at  Reggio  on  the  28th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1862 ;  but  the  next  day  Garibaldi  in  turn  was 
beaten  at  Asprimonte  by  General  Pallavincini.  Al- 
though there  were  only  a  few  shots  fired,  Garibaldi 
was  wounded  and  carried  to  Spezia  as  a  prisoner. 
Ratazzi  was  blamed  for  his  cowardice  in  allowing 
Garibaldi  to  be  sacrificed,  and  also  in  permitting  the 
French  garrison  to  still  be  kept  in  Rome.  The  whole 
disturbance  unearthed  so  many  skeletons  that  Ratazzi 
was  obliged  to  retire  from  office  in  1863,  and  Garibaldi 
was  allowed  to  go  back  to  Caprera. 

The  next  year  Garibaldi  went  to  London  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  money  to  carry  on  the  war  against 
Austria.  Although  England  refrained  from  giving 
him  any  material  support,  she  and  all  Europe  were 
aroused  in  favor  of  Italian  unity.  Thus,  though  this 
expedition  had  seemingly  ended  in  failure,  like  all  of 


Venice  Given  up  by  Austria  223 

Garibaldi's  insurrections  it  had  spurred  on  the  people 
to  more  earnest  effort  to  bring  Rome  and  Venice  into 
the  Italian  kingdom ;  and  the  ministers  of  Victor 
Emanuel,  seeing  that  the  foreign  powers  were  in  sym- 
pathy with  them,  felt  encouraged  to  press  on  to  the 
completion  of  the  union  and  freedom  of  Italy. 

The  Italian  people  were  indignant  on  account  of  the 
continuance  of  French  troops  in  Rome,  and  accord- 
ingly Napoleon  and  Victor  Emanuel  in  1864  agreed  to 
what  was  called  the  "  September  Convention."  By  its 
terms,  the  French  garrison  was  gradually  to  be  re- 
moved so  that  the  Pope  might  have  a  chance  to  sur- 
round himself  with  a  defensive  force  before  the  end 
of  two  years,  when  the  French  were  to  withdraw  from 
Rome  altogether.  In  exchange  for  these  concessions, 
Victor  Emanuel  promised  to  make  no  attack  on  the 
Pope's  territory,  and  the  people  were  to  give  up  the 
idea  of  Rome  for  a  capital. 

It  was  now  generally  understood  that  the  whole 
Italian  peninsula,  including  the  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Papal  States,  desired  that  all  Italy 
should  be  united  with  Rome  for  its  capital.  Yet  it 
was  thought  to  be  good  policy  to  make  it  appear  that 
this  project  was  abandoned;  and  accordingly  the  seat 
of  government  was  removed  from  Turin  to  Florence 
in  1865,  at  the  time  of  the  celebration  attending  the 
sixth  centennial  anniversary  of  Dante's  birth.  The 
people  of  Turin  had  been  quite  reconciled  to  the  idea 
of  giving  up  their  prestige  to  Rome;  but  now,  when 
they  saw  that  the  capital  was  taken  away  from  them, 
to  be  given  to  Florence,  riots  broke  out. 

It  was  Cavour  who  in  1861  had  first  seriously  con- 
sidered an  alliance  with  Prussia.  La  Marmora  was 
at  that  time  sent  to  pay  his  respects  to  King  William  I. 


224         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

on  his  ascension  to  the  throne  in  the  January  of  that 
year,  and  in  the  interview  he  referred  to  the  similarity 
of  the  early  history  of  Piedmont  and  Prussia,  men- 
tioning that  the  Italians  regarded  His  Majesty  as 
their  friend  and  benefactor.  Afterwards  when  the 
early  bitterness  between  Prussia  and  Austria  began 
to  be  apparent,  Prince  Bismarck  broached  the  subject 
of  an  alliance  to  La  Marmora,  who  was  prime  minis- 
ter; and  thus  on  the  8th  of  April,  1866,  a  compact  was 
made  between  Italy  and  Prussia,  pledging  mutual  sup- 
port in  case  of  war  against  Austria.  The  latter,  when 
she  found  herself  so  embroiled,  offered  through  France 
to  give  Venetia  back  to  Italy,  if  Victor  Emanuel  would 
annul  his  contract  with  Prussia.  Having  pledged  him- 
self, however,  the  latter  refused  to  be  disloyal,  and  the 
King  of  Prussia  in  turn  agreed  not  to  yield  in  case 
of  war,  until  Austria  should  give  up  to  the  Italians 
all  that  part  of  Venetia  which  did  not  include  the 
city  of  Venice  and  the  quadrilateral  formed  of  the 
fortresses  of  Verona,  Vincenza,  Peschiera  and  Mantua. 
On  the  20th  of  June,  1866,  war  having  been  de- 
clared against  Austria,  La  Marmora  took  command  of 
the  army  and  Garibaldi  came  over  from  Caprera  to 
lead  twenty  battalions  of  volunteers.  At  first  it  was 
thought  that  Garibaldi  might  be  employed  success- 
fully to  stir  up  the  populace  of  Dalmatia,  and  then  to 
force  an  encounter  with  the  Austrian  troops  in  the 
direction  of  Vienna;  but,  fearing  Garibaldi's  natural 
impetuosity  the  king  only  dared  to  send  this  erratic 
revolutionist  into  the  Tyrol,  while  General  Cialdini 
drew  up  his  large  force  on  the  lower  Po.  The  Aus- 
trians,  although  far  outnumbered,  were  strongly  forti- 
fied in  the  quadrilateral,  under  Archduke  Albert.  On 
the  24th  the  Italians  and  Austrians  met  on  the  heights 


Venice  Given  up  by  Austria  225 

of  Custoza,  that  battle-ground  formerly  so  fatal  to 
Charles  Albert. 

Although  La  Marmora  showed  great  courage,  he 
did  not  possess  the  happiest  qualities  of  a  commander- 
in-chief.  There  were  many  personal  deeds  of  valor 
during  the  battle,  but  no  unanimity  of  purpose  was 
shown ;  and  no  doubt  the  moral  effect  of  the  former 
disastrous  defeat  at  Custoza  in  1848  was  depressing 
to  the  soldiers.  In  any  case,  the  disappointment  to 
the  Italians,  when  their  army  was  obliged  to  retreat 
instead  of  achieving  the  glorious  victory  expected,  was 
most  overwhelming.  Meanwhile  Garibaldi,  in  the 
Tyrol,  was  struggling  against  fearful  odds  and  finally 
was  beaten  and  wounded  at  Monte  Suello. 

In  Germany,  however,  the  Austrians  had  been  de- 
feated by  the  Prussians  at  Sadowa;  and  on  the  3d  of 
July  they  again  made  the  offer  to  Victor  Emanuel  to 
give  up  Venetia.  The  king  refused  to  agree  to  such 
dishonorable  terms,  and  the  Italians  still  determined 
to  keep  on  fighting.  Garibaldi,  in  view  of  this,  pene- 
trated without  difficulty  as  far  as  Trent,  while  Cialdini 
continued  on  his  way  to  Venetia.  Here,  after  the  de- 
cisive battle  of  the  22d  of  July,  1866,  at  Koniggratz, 
an  armistice  was  concluded  between  Prussia  and 
Austria  without  waiting  to  confer  with  Italy. 

In  the  meantime  the  Italian  fleet  had  been  defeated 
on  the  2Oth  by  the  Austrians  at  Lissa,  an  island  on  the 
Adriatic  coast.  Their  admiral,  Persano,  was  removed 
on  account  of  inefficiency,  since  Italy,  being  proud  of 
her  navy,  had  expected  a  great  and  victorious  sea- 
fight. 

At  the  Peace  of  Prague,  on  August  23,  1866,  Aus- 
tria was  obliged  to  give  up  Venetia  to  Napoleon  III., 
who  yielded  it  practically  entire,  including  Venice  and 


226          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  fortresses  on  the  frontier,  to  Victor  Emanuel,  after 
the  people  had  ratified  it  by  a  vote.  The  Iron  Crown 
of  Lombardy,  also,  which  had  been  taken  in  1859  and 
carried  to  Vienna,  now  had  to  be  given  up.  Austria 
kept  for  herself  Istria  and  Aquileia  and  other  primi- 
tive cities  of  Venetia  on  the  Dalmatian  coast.  Although 
the  Italians  had  gained  little  personal  glory,  their  long- 
wished-for  purpose  was  attained;  and,  on  the  7th  of 
November  when  Victor  Emanuel  entered  Venice,  the 
populace  raised  a  jubilant  shout  at  being  at  last  free 
from  foreign  servitude,  and  cried  simultaneously: 
"  Long  live  the  King !  Long  live  the  King !  " 

After  seventeen  years  of  French  rule,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  September  Convention,  the  French  troops 
were  withdrawn  from  Rome  at  the  end  of  1866,  and 
the  Pope  was  left  to  his  own  resources.  The  repub- 
licans under  Mazzini  wished  to  attack  the  city,  while 
Ratazzi  followed  the  same  prudent  course  as  in  1862. 
Notwithstanding  the  king  had  announced  that  he 
would  try  to  bring  the  two  parties  to  an  agreement, 
Garibaldi  as  usual  made  an  effort  to  rouse  the  citizens 
in  several  districts;  and  everything  was  ready  for  an 
uprising.  But  on  the  3d  of  September  the  Italian 
government  was  obliged,  on  account  of  complications 
with  Napoleon,  still  a  defender  of  the  Pope,  to  put 
Garibaldi  under  guard  in  Caprera.  This  arrest  was 
only  a  farce,  however,  for  in  spite  of  it  the  revolu- 
tionists went  right  ahead  and  penetrated  into  the  Papal 
States. 

Louis  Napoleon  now  considered  that  the  September 
Convention  had  been  violated,  and  on  the  i6th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1867,  sent  a  fleet  from  Toulon  to  rescue  the  Pope. 
This  was  just  after  the  time  that  Garibaldi  had  es- 
caped from  Caprera  in  a  little  fishing-boat  and  had 


Venice  Given  up  by  Austria  227 

succeeded  in  reaching  Tuscany  without  being  way- 
laid. He  gained  a  victory  at  Monte  Rotondo  on  the 
26th  of  October,  and  the  king  was  obliged  again  to 
promise  that  he  would  stop  the  advance  of  the  volun- 
teers. But  there  were  still  further  attempts  on  the 
part  of  Garibaldi,  which  became  abortive,  and  he  was 
sent  back  to  Caprera.  During  this  time  Ratazzi,  find- 
ing that  affairs  were  getting  too  complicated,  again 
resigned. 

Even  though  the  expedition  of  1867  had  failed, 
Garibaldi  had  as  usual  accomplished  his  purpose  in 
further  arousing  the  people  and  stimulating  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  Liberal  party  in  Europe,  especially  in 
England.  Notwithstanding  the  French  government 
said  that  Italy  could  never  have  possession  of  Rome, 
Giovanni  Lanza,  speaker  of  the  Italian  Chamber,  de- 
clared in  December,  1867,  that  Rome  "  through  the 
very  nature  of  things  "  must  finally  be  made  the  capi- 
tal of  Italy.  Accordingly,  when  Napoleon  III.  sought 
Italy's  alliance  in  1869  against  Prussia,  the  government 
was  ready  to  agree  to  it  on  condition  that  Rome  should 
be  at  once  evacuated ;  but  the  Church  party  influenced 
Napoleon  not  to  listen  to  the  terms  and  it  had  to  be 
given  up. 

After  the  first  defeat  in  1870  Napoleon  again  asked 
help  from  Victor  Emanuel;  but  there  was  a  general 
outcry  in  Italy  against  the  French;  and,  making  the 
alliance  of  1866  with  Prussia  an  excuse,  Italy  took  a 
neutral  stand. 

On  the  8th  of  August,  the  French  army  being  needed 
to  help  carry  on  the  war  at  home,  it  left  Rome  and 
sailed  from  Civita  Vecchia.  Still  Pope  Pius  IX. 
would  not  go,  and  the  government  under  Victor  Eman- 
uel was  much  alarmed  lest  the  republicans,  who 


228          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

were  becoming  more  violent  every  day,  should  molest 
His  Holiness,  especially  since  Mazzini  was  urging 
them  to  more  strenuous  effort.  It  now  looked  as  if, 
unless  the  king  moved  at  once,  the  revolutionists 
would  rise  en  masse  and  engulf  the  whole  Italian  gov- 
ernment ;  and  if  Rome  were  taken  without  the  author- 
ity of  the  king,  it  would  be  the  capital  of  the  re- 
public of  Italy,  and  unity  as  a  nation  would  without 
doubt  be  lost.  Besides,  the  king  still  felt  himself 
bound  by  the  September  Convention ;  and  accordingly 
he  had  Mazzini  seized  and  confined  at  Gaeta;  not  be- 
cause his  untiring  efforts  were  unappreciated,  but  be- 
cause his  violent  methods  would  have  overturned  the 
monarchy. 

On  the  24th  of  August,  1870,  Prince  Jerome  Bona- 
parte, the  king's  son-in-law,  arrived  in  Florence  to 
push  matters,  agreeing  to  let  the  Roman  question 
alone.  It  was  too  late,  however,  for  any  alliance,  since 
it  was  an  established  fact  that  Louis  Napoleon  had  no 
further  power  to  prevent  them  from  absorbing  the 
Papal  States. 

After  the  victory  of  Sedan  a  republic  was  pro- 
claimed in  France  on  the  4th  of  September,  1870;  and 
the  foreign  minister  of  the  new  French  republic  de- 
clared the  September  Convention,  which  had  lasted 
six  years,  at  an  end.  The  agitation  in  Italy  was  now 
at  a  white  heat,  and  the  newspapers  were  full  of  vehe- 
ment articles  entitled  "  To  Rome,"  which  declared  that 
the  Pope  must  now  yield  his  temporal  power.  Meet- 
ings followed  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  Italy  de- 
manding Rome  as  the  capital  of  Italy,  and  the  seizure 
of  the  Papal  States.  The  excitement  was  so  great 
that  no  ministry,  and  not  even  the  monarchy  itself, 
could  resist  the  will  of  the  people. 


Venice  Given  up  by  Austria  229 

Victor  Emanuel,  who  saw  that  immediate  action 
must  be  taken,  wrote  a  letter  to  Pius  IX.,  begging  him 
at  last  to  give  up  the  temporal  power.  The  Pontiff 
replied  to  this  that  he  would  do  so  only  under  compul- 
sion. The  court  at  Florence  also  sent  a  respectful 
letter  to  the  Holy  Father,  saying  that  the  Italian  gov- 
ernment "  regarded  his  spiritual  office  with  the  pro- 
foundest  reverence ;  but  that  the  exigencies  of  the  times 
demanded  the  downfall  of  his  temporal  power,  and  that 
it  was  hoped  he  would  yield  amicably." 

The  Pope  flatly  refused  in  a  concise  letter  read  be- 
fore a  formal  audience  given  his  ambassador  in  Flor- 
ence on  the  loth  of  September,  1870,  and  the  next 
day,  Sunday,  September  u,  the  troops  of  Victor 
Emanuel  entered  the  States  of  the  Church  at  three 
different  points.  General  Cadorna,  setting  out  from 
Turin  for  Rome  soon  after  stationed  his  forces  at 
Porta  Pia  on  the  iQth.  A  second  division  proceeded 
from  Orvieto  to  Civita  Vecchia  under  General  Bixio, 
while  a  third  under  General  Angioletti  invaded  the 
Papal  States  by  the  way  of  Frosinone  and  Anagni. 
The  Pope  commanded,  that  since  any  resistance  would 
be  useless,  there  should  be  only  a  sufficient  exhibition 
of  force  to  prove  to  the  world  that  his  realms  were 
taken  away  from  him  by  military  violence. 

At  half-past  eight  on  the  2Oth  of  September,  1870, 
a  breach  was  made  in  the  Porta  Pia,  at  half -past  nine 
it  was  leveled  to  the  ground,  and  at  ten  o'clock  a  part 
of  General  Cadorna's  army  entered  Rome  and  took  pos- 
session. The  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  had  lasted 
eleven  centuries,  ever  since  Pepin  the  Short  ceded  the 
territory  to  Pope  Stephen  in  return  for  the  coronation 
of  himself  and  his  sons. 

Although  Pius  IX.  had  long  seen  that  his  temporal 


230          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

power  hung  by  a  thread,  he  was  obliged,  in  order  to 
retain  his  prestige  with  the  Catholic  Church,  to  seem 
to  yield  only  under  the  greatest  pressure,  and  to  ap- 
pear in  the  role  of  a  martyr  shut  up  as  a  prisoner  in 
his  own  domain.  The  Popes  have  done  this  ever  since, 
but  there  never  has  been  the  slightest  effort  on  the  part 
of  their  people  to  change  the  environment  or  separate 
them  from  the  dignified  and  luxurious  life  they  have 
there  enjoyed  without  intermission. 

The  Palace  of  the  Caesars,  the  Forum,  and  the  most 
of  the  ruined  monuments  of  Ancient  Rome,  besides 
the  business  and  residence  portions,  are  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Tiber ;  while  on  the  right  is  the  "  Leonine 
City,"  consisting  of  the  Vatican  and  St.  Peter's  and 
"nearly  all  the  artistic  wealth  which  the  Catholic 
Church  has  accumulated  during  a  period  of  a  thou- 
sand years,"  and  especially  during  the  reign  of  Pope 
Leo  X.,  the  illustrious  pontiff  from  whom  the  Leonine 
City  is  named. 

In  order  that  these  environs  of  the  Pope  might  not 
be  disturbed,  a  regiment  of  Italian  troops  were  sta- 
tioned in  the  gardens  of  the  Vatican  to  protect  His 
Holiness.  On  the  2d  of  October,  1870,  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  the  people  of  Rome  cast  off  all  temporal  alle- 
giance to  the  Pope,  and  became  the  subjects  of  the 
King  of  united  Italy.  The  clerical  party  would  not 
vote,  declaring  that  "  they  were  overawed  by  sixty 
thousand  bayonets  and  that  any  appeal  to  the  ballot- 
box  was  a  farce." 

In  the  September  previous  to  this  the  Italian  govern- 
ment issued  a  manifesto  declaring  that,  although  the 
political  authority  of  the  Pope  had  been  superseded,  the 
pontiff  should  still  be  free  to  exercise  his  ecclesiastical 
functions.  It  was  also  agreed  that  besides  supporting 


Venice  Given  up  by  Austria  231 

the  Pope,  Italy  would  assume  the  debts  hitherto  con- 
tracted by  the  Papal  States. 

Later,  in  1871,  by  the  "Bill  of  Papal  Guarantees," 
enacted  at  Florence,  the  person  of  the  Pope  was  de- 
clared sacred  and  inviolable,  any  offense  against  him 
being  punishable  in  the  same  way  as  though  perpe- 
trated against  the  king.  He  was  allowed  as  many 
guards  as  he  thought  necessary  to  protect  his  palace 
and  person,  his  annual  allowance  being  fixed  at  three 
million  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  liras, 
free  from  all  taxation.  But  it  is  said  that  his  annual  sti- 
pend has  never,  in  all  the  years  since,  been  touched  by 
the  Papal  government.  The  Pope  was  to  remain  in 
possession  of  the  Vatican  with  its  libraries  and  art  gal- 
leries, the  Lateran,  the  Villa  of  Castel  Gondolfo,  and 
the  Church  of  San  Maria  Maggiore.  His  Holiness 
was  left  free  to  correspond  with  the  bishops  and  the 
whole  Catholic  world  without  interference  on  the  part 
of  the  Italian  Kingdom.  Postal  and  telegraph  ser- 
vice was  attached  to  each  of  his  palaces  for  the  private 
use  of  his  government,  and  all  Papal  schools,  univer- 
sities, and  colleges  in  Rome  and  the  suburban  dioceses 
were  entirely  under  his  control;  and  no  official  or 
other  government  agent  was  to  be  allowed  to  enter 
any  of  the  Pope's  dominions  without  His  Holiness' 
permission.  Thus  the  government  exhibited  all  the 
magnanimity  that  a  self-reliant  State,  sure  of  its  posi- 
tion, could  show  to  a  great  but  subjected  power. 

One  faction,  the  party  of  the  Left,  were  opposed 
to  every  concession ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  the  priv- 
ilege of  nominating  and  appointing  officers  in  the 
Church  was  given  to  His  Holiness  on  condition  that 
Italian  subjects  should  be  chosen;  and  bishops  were 
exempted  from  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 


232          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

king.  Bills  were  passed  concerning  Church  property, 
religious  corporations,  convents,  monasteries  and  their 
superiors,  so  as  to  avoid  interference  with  the  Pope's 
peculiar  position.  The  heads  of  these  institutions  were 
given  an  annuity  from  the  State,  and  while  the  incum- 
bents lived,  apartments  were  left  them  in  the  houses 
where  they  had  so  long  resided. 

The  new  parliament  in  Florence  opened  on  the  5th 
of  December,  1870.  In  his  speech  at  this  time  Victor 
Emanuel  said :  "  When  Rome  is  finally  made  the 
capital  of  Italy  I  shall  have  fulfilled  my  promise 
to  my  people  and  shall  have  finished  the  enterprise 
which  was  begun  by  my  sainted  and  heroic  father 
twenty-three  years  ago.  My  heart  thrills  both  as  a 
monarch  and  a  son  as  I  salute  all  the  representatives 
of  our  united  country  for  the  first  time  and  say :  'Italy 
is  free  and  united;  it  only  remains  for  us  to  make  her 
great,  happy  and  prosperous.'  " 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      233 


CHAPTER  XVI 

VICTOR  EMANUEL  ENTERS  ROME  AS  KING  OF  UNITED 
ITALY. HE  ADMINISTERS  AFFAIRS  OF  THE  GOVERN- 
MENT FAITHFULLY. — DEATH  OF  MANY  OF  ITALY'S 

EMINENT   MEN. — VICTOR  EMANUEL  DIES. DEATH   OF 

POPE  PIUS. POPE  LEO  XIII. REIGN  OF    KING    HUM- 
BERT.— DEATH     OF    GARIBALDI. SUCCEEDING    EVENTS 

AND  CHANGES. 

1870—1899  A.D. 

VICTOR  EMANUEL  showed  great  emotion  when 
the  envoys  came  to  Florence  in  the  December  of 
1870  to  announce  to  him  officially,  that  by  a  unanimous 
vote  of  the  people,  Rome  had  been  made  the  capital 
of  united  Italy.  The  king  responded  in  a  speech, 
saying  that  at  last  the  great  work  of  reconstructing  the 
State  had  been  achieved,  and  that  "  the  name  of  Rome, 
the  grandest  ever  uttered  by  man,  was  joined  to  that 
of  Italy,  the  name  dearest  to  his  heart."  In  proclaim- 
ing the  unity  of  Italy  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Apen- 
nines and  from  the  north  to  the  extreme  south,  he 
said  that  he  should  remain  true  to  the  liberty  guaran- 
teed to  the  Church  and  the  legitimate  independence  of 
the  Pope. 

The  people,  rejoicing  from  one  end  of  Italy  to  the 
other,  felt  that  the  ashes  of  Cavour  in  Santena  must 
have  stirred  in  the  tomb,  as  the  deputation  from  Rome 
crowned  his  monument  with  an  imperishable  memorial, 
in  recognition  of  the  nation's  gratitude  for  a  life  spent 
in  the  nation's  service,  culminating  in  the  regeneration 
of  the  State. 


234          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

After  Victor  Emanuel  II.  took  up  his  residence  in  the 
Quirinal  Palace,  desirous  of  making  any  sacrifice  con- 
sistent with  the  welfare  of  united  Italy,  he  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  Pope  Pius  IX.,  in  which  he  expressed  his  per- 
sonal devotion  to  the  Church  and  congratulated  His 
Holiness  on  having  held  his  sacred  office  more  than 
twenty-five  years,  a  longer  space  of  time  than  legen- 
dary history  assigns  to  St.  Peter.  It  was  a  great  disap- 
pointment that  Pius  IX.  denied  an  audience  to  the 
ambassador  and  disdained  other  similar  attentions 
from  the  Quirinal. 

From  the  2d  of  July,  1871,  the  time  when  the  king 
established  his  court  at  Rome,  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties occupied  the  Monte  Citorio  Palace,  while  the 
Senate  took  possession  of  the  Madama  Palace. 

From  that  era  there  has  been  no  considerable  inter- 
ruption in  the  public  peace ;  but  although  the  relation 
of  Italy  with  foreign  affairs  involves  many  problems 
which  require  great  tact,  it  has  been  in  the  control  of 
domestic  concerns  that  the  most  numerous  difficulties 
have  been  found.  The  lack  of  previous  training  in 
carrying  on  a  constitutional  government,  the  apathy 
and  ignorance  of  the  people,  so  long  held  down  by 
tyranny,  and  the  subtle  influence  of  the  Papal  party 
over  the  people,  has  made  the  business  of  governing 
united  Italy  very  perplexing. 

Victor  Emanuel  continued  to  carry  on  the  affairs  of 
State  with  great  fairness  to  the  end.  He  adopted  what- 
ever measures  his  ministers,  selected  by  a  vote  of  Par- 
liament, approved;  and  his  great  success  was  due  to 
his  wisdom  and  firmness  in  adhering  to  constitutional 
forms.  In  opening  the  first  Parliament  he  said: 
"  The  work  to  which  we  have  consecrated  our  lives  is 
completed.  Italy  is  restored  after  long  and  self-sacri- 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      235 

ficing  effort.  Everything  speaks  to  us,  not  only  of  past 
greatness,  but  of  future  duties,  and  in  the  joy  of  the 
occasion  we  must  not  forget  our  responsibilities.  Re- 
generated by  liberty,  may  we  seek  in  freedom  and 
order  the  secret  of  strength,  and  endeavor  to  reconcile 
Church  and  State." 

The  government  now  took  up  the  management  of 
public  instruction,  and,  though  they  confined  themselves 
to  teaching  ethics  in  the  elementary  schools,  in  1874 
there  was  unrestricted  religious  freedom  given  to  those 
private  and  ecclesiastical  schools  and  to  the  monastic 
institutions  which  until  recently  had  been  the  only 
source  of  learning  open  to  the  Italian  youth.  Yet  the 
Church  was  not  satisfied  with  the  provision. 

In  order  to  show  their  gratitude,  affection  and  ap- 
preciation, the  people  'celebrated  on  March  23,  1874, 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Victor  Emanuel's 
accession  to  the  throne,  his  sovereignty  at  that  time 
having  extended  over  little  more  than  Sardinia  and 
Piedmont. 

The  next  year  Garibaldi's  wise  and  patriotic  course 
in  Parliament  surprised  all  who  had  feared  that  there 
would  be  some  disturbance;  and  the  government  was 
more  firmly  established  by  his  attitude. 

The  attention  of  the  State  was  drawn  more  and 
more  to  the  destitution  in  Sicily  and  the  south,  where 
the  industries  had  been  neglected  and  the  people  were 
indifferent  to  progress.  The  railroad  system  through- 
out Italy  was  but  poorly  sustained,  Piedmont,  Ligu- 
ria,  Lombard  and  Tuscany,  all  together  in  1859  sup- 
porting not  much  more  than  a  thousand  miles  of  rail- 
road. In  the  Neapolitan  provinces,  with  an  area  equal 
to  the  combined  territory  just  mentioned,  there  were 
only  one  hundred  and  fourteen  miles ;  while  in  Sicily, 


£36         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

which  is  as  large  as  Piedmont,  no  railway  existed  at 
all,  and  the  ordinary  roads  and  postal  and  telegraphic 
service  were  correspondingly  inferior. 

But  as  early  as  the  end  of  1871  there  had  been  nearly 
six  thousand  additional  miles  of  railway  laid,  of  the 
most  difficult  construction.  That  year  the  Mont  Cenis 
tunnel  between  France  and  Italy  was  completed;  and 
after  that  the  two  largest  tunnels  in  Europe  were  built, 
the  Arlberg,  in  the  Austrian  Tyrol,  and  the  St.  Gott- 
hard,  the  latter  having  been  the  principal  route  from 
Switzerland  to  Italy. 

Meanwhile  the  great  men  whose  wisdom  had  accom- 
plished the  consolidation  of  Italy  had  passed  away  one 
after  the  other.  Mazzini  had  lingered  at  death's  door 
for  a  long  time  in  exile  at  Lugano  in  Switzerland,  but 
at  last  he  was  permitted  to  die  in  Pisa,  a  beloved  city, 
in  the  midst  of  loving  companionship.  He  was  fol- 
lowed to  the  grave  by  a  vast  throng,  who  felt  that  he 
had  ennobled  their  patriotism.  His  remains  were  placed 
in  the  Campo  Santo  in  Genoa.  The  London  Times  had 
warned  the  Emperor  of  France,  at  the  time  of  the 
siege  of  Rome,  that  he  had  to  contend  not  with  a 
broken-hearted  exile,  but,  "  with  the  Mazzini  in  every 
Italian  breast."  The  truth  of  this  admonition  now  be- 
came apparent ;  for,  although  "  he  had  been  hunted  like 
a  felon  while  living,"  the  Italian  Assembly  and  officers 
of  rank,  and  the  whole  European  press,  now  delighted 
to  crown  his  grave  with  laurel.  The  fact  that  Mazzini 
preferred  cross  roads  to  beaten  tracks  in  reaching  the 
goal  was  soon  forgotten  by  posterity  in  their  gratitude 
for  the  part  he  took  in  bringing  about  the  liberation  of 
Italy. 

Mazzini  had  among  his  friends  the  great  and 
learned;  but  during  the  many  years  of  his  exile,  spent 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      237 

mainly  in  London,  he  cultivated,  for  the  most  part, 
men  and  women  devoted  to  liberty.  The  great  patriot 
while  living  in  London  did  much  to  ameliorate  the 
condition  of  his  countrymen  by  starting  free  and 
benevolent  schools  for  the  Italian  youth  and  children, 
besides  performing  many  other  charitable  deeds. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen,  while  walking  in  the  streets 
of  Genoa  with  his  mother,  Mazzini  beheld  some 
bruised  and  wounded  Piedmontese,  revolters  from 
Austrian  oppression;  and  in  an  instant  he  became  a 
full-fledged  patriot.  Soon  after  this  he  was  confined 
in  prison  for  writing  patriotic  articles  for  the  "  Antolo- 
gia  of  Florence."  The  governor  of  Genoa,  when  ques- 
tioned by  his  father  as  to  the  reason  of  his  imprison- 
ment, replied :  "  Your  son  is  a  young  man  of  talent, 
given  to  solitary  walks,  and  silent  as  to  the  subject  of 
his  meditations;  and  the  government  is  not  fond  of 
such  young  men,  the  theme  of  whose  musings  is  un- 
known to  us."  This  was  the  Italy  to  which  Mazzini 
was  born — a  country  which  threw  its  young  thinkers 
into  dungeons. 

Urbano  Ratazzi  was  among  the  statesmen  who  died 
during  the  early  years  of  the  new  regime.  After 
Cavour's  death  the  Conservatives,  or  party  of  the 
Right,  as  they  were  called,  held  the  power  in  the 
government;  but  when  this  party  became  unpopular 
on  account  of  many  mistakes  and  its  unwise  fiscal 
policy,  the  opposition  was  in  the  majority,  and  accord- 
ing to  custom  it  remained  with  Depretis,  the  leader  of 
the  Left,  to  form  a  new  ministry.  Their  policy  proved 
so  popular,  and  in  the  next  election  the  Left  had  so 
overpowering  a  majority,  that  compromises  had  to  be 
made  in  order  to  avoid  an  outbreak. 

On  the  5th  of  January,  1878,  General  Alphonso  la 


238         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Marmora  breathed  his  last  at  Florence,  the  city  of  his 
adoption;  and  on  the  pth  Victor  Emanuel  also  passed 
away.  The  king  was  a  loyal  Catholic  still,  and  when 
he  saw  his  end  approaching  he  desired  to  receive  the 
Holy  Communion;  but  his  private  chaplain  did  not 
dare  to  administer  the  sacrament  to  an  excommuni- 
cated person  until  he  had  permission  from  the  Pope. 
His  Holiness,  notwithstanding  that  he  had  so  fre- 
quently stigmatized  Victor  Emanuel  as  a  "  sacrilegious 
usurper,"  sent  a  message,  regretting  that  his  own  feeble 
condition  did  not  permit  him  to  leave  the  Vatican  to 
solemnize  in  person  the  "  last  communion "  at  the 
Quirinal. 

During  his  reign  of  eight  years  Victor  Emanuel 
II.  had  preserved,  amidst  the  splendor  of  his  fashion- 
able court,  the  simple  tastes  of  his  early  life.  His  were 
the  ways  of  the  people,  and  nothing  gave  him  such 
genuine  pleasure  as  associating  with  them  on  equal 
terms.  It  was  no  uncommon  experience  for  him  to 
sit  down  to  the  villagers'  humble  table  and  eat  bread 
and  cheese  at  their  family  board. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  countryman  who,  when  unsuc- 
cessfully trying  to  lift  his  wagon  out  of  the  mire,  saw 
a  strong,  burly  stranger  passing  and  said :  "  I  should 
think  you  might  lend  a  hand  in  lifting  this  wagon." 
"  Certainly,"  the  stranger  replied,  as  he  put  his  shoulder 
to  the  wheel,  and  lifted  the  vehicle  onto  level  ground. 
At  this  moment  a  traveler  coming  along  made  a 
humble  obeisance,  and  the  rustic,  greatly  humiliated, 
discovered  that  his  friend  in  need  had  been  the  King  of 
Italy. 

Victor  Emanuel  first  won  the  confidence  of  the 
Italian  nation  when,  soon  after  Charles  Albert's  abdi- 
cation, he  induced  Radetsky  to  allow  the  Sardinian 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      239 

Constitution  to  stand,  at  a  time  when  every  other 
vestige  of  representative  government  in  Italy  was 
swept  away. 

The  king's  death  excited  the  most  profound  dem- 
onstrations of  respect  and  sorrow  throughout  the 
country.  We  read  to-day  over  his  tomb  in  the  Pan- 
theon, where  he  was  then  buried,  the  familiar  words: 
"  To  the  Father  of  His  Country." 

Every  year  up  to  the  time  of  King  Humbert's  death, 
at  a  very  late  hour  on  the  Qth  of  January,  a  somber 
mourning  cortege  passed  through  the  streets  of  Rome 
from  the  Quirinal  to  the  Pantheon,  where  the  retinue 
remained  for  several  hours  in  private  devotion  before 
Victor  Emanuel's  tomb,  the  whole  day  being  given  up 
to  general  memorial  services.  During  the  entire  week 
thousands  of  the  populace  and  many  strangers  visited 
this  renowned  structure,  which  was  shrouded  in  gloom. 
The  large  opening  in  the  dome  was  enveloped  in 
mourning  draperies  and  the  black  hangings  about  the 
tomb  of  him  who  devoted  his  life  to  the  interests  of 
Italy  were  decked  with  stars  of  pearl;  while  on  the 
other  hand  Raphael's  tomb  and  the  monuments  of  other 
famous  Italians  were  concealed. 

The  death  of  the  king  was  followed  a  few  weeks 
later,  on  the  7th  of  February,  1878,  by  that  of  Pope 
Pius  IX.  The  latter  had  also  done  much  for  the  con- 
solidation of  Italy  at  the  dawn  of  Italian  independence, 
by  supporting  the  national  movement  in  the  beginning 
of  his  reign;  while  his  subsequent  withdrawal  made 
the  accomplishment  of  the  task  easier ;  since  otherwise 
hampering  concessions  with  reference  to  his  temporal 
sovereignity,  as  well  as  with  respect  to  the  rights  of 
the  Church,  would  have  been  obligatory. 

Pope  Pius  IX.'s  body  lay  in  state  three  days  in  the 


240         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Church  of  St.  Peter's,  on  a  rich  cover  of  crimson,  sur- 
rounded by  twelve  golden  candlesticks.  It  was  so 
placed  that  all  the  faithful  could  gather  around  and 
kiss  his  feet. 

In  the  conclave  which  was  held  immediately  after, 
sixty-one  cardinals  were  present ;  and  after  a  session 
of  thirty-six  hours  inside  closed  doors,  Cardinal  Gioa- 
chino  Pecci,  then  sixty-eight  years  of  age,  was  chosen. 
He  took  the  title  of  Leo  XIII.,  the  coronation  cere- 
monies taking  place  on  March  3,  1878. 

Leo  XIII.  for  a  time  followed  closely  in  the  foot- 
steps of  Pius  IX.,  though  he  showed  himself  a  much 
broader  ecclesiastic.  For  many  years  he  supported  the 
illusion  that  temporal  power  would  be  restored,  since 
he  held  that  otherwise  spiritual  authority  could  not  be 
freely  maintained.  At  the  same  time  he  kept  before 
the  Catholic  world  the  idea  that  the  Pope  was  being 
kept  a  prisoner  in  the  Vatican.  Notwithstanding  this, 
the  Pope's  subjects  in  Italy  from  the  first  appeared 
satisfied  with  the  new  regime. 

The  Prince  of  Piedmont,  the  eldest  son  of  Victor 
Emanuel,  succeeded  to  the  throne  as  Humbert  I.  In 
the  course  of  his  memorable  speech  on  the  occasion  of 
his  taking  the  oath,  he  said :  "  The  only  solace  left  to 
us  is  to  prove  worthy  of  the  departed,  I,  by  following 
in  his  footsteps  and  you  by  imitating  his  civic  virtues ; 
and  I  shall  not  forget  the  precepts  my  father  was 
always  anxious  to  impress  upon  me,  that  a  religious 
observance  of  Italy's  liberal  institutions  is  the  surest 
safeguard  against  all  peril.  That  has  been  the  strength 
of  my  House;  that  shall  be  my  strength  also." 

With  Victor  Emanuel  the  violent  period  of  the  rapid 
unification  of  Italy  closed,  that  era  of  "tragic  con- 
spiracies, bold  diplomacy,  and  bloody  battles  " ;  with 


POPE  LEO  XIIL 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      241 

Humbert  there  opened  an  epoch  of  pacific  labor  which 
was  to  make  the  Italian  union  more  rich,  prosperous 
and  compact;  and  the  people  more  capable  of  under- 
standing their  country's  needs. 

King  Humbert  was  born  the  I4th  of  March,  1844, 
his  mother  being  Mary  Adelaide  of  Ranieri.  His 
various  praenomina  were  sufficient  to  stifle  the  growth 
of  any  small  boy,  though  they  seem  not  to  have  affected 
him  physically  or  morally.  They  were  Humbert 
Ranieri  Charles  Emanuel  John  Maria  Ferdinand 
Eugene.  He  remained  under  the  care  of  his  mother 
until  she  died,  when  he  was  ten  years  old,  and  then  he 
was  put  under  Giuseppe  Rossi  for  military  training. 
As  is  usual  in  the  case  of  royalty,  he  held  a  military 
rank  from  childhood,  but  it  was  only  after  rigorous 
training  that  he  gained  his  officer's  epaulets.  At  four- 
teen, in  March,  1848,  he  became  captain  of  the  3d 
Regiment  of  Infantry.  In  1859  he  was  with  his  father 
at  the  Battle  of  Magenta,  where  he  was  received  with 
such  enthusiasm  that  he  gained  the  name  of  the  "  gal- 
lant Humbert";  and  great  honors  were  conferred 
upon  him  by  his  countrymen  in  memory  of  his  noble 
bravery.  Humbert  and  Amadeus  both  took  part  in 
the  Austrian  struggle  of  1866  at  Custoza,  the  former 
receiving  a  medal  for  valor. 

Humbert  was  at  first  engaged  to  an  Austrian 
duchess,  and  bridal  presents  had  been  exchanged, 
when  the  charming  young  lady  was  burned  to  death  by 
her  silken  scarf  igniting  from  a  lighted  cigarette. 
Soon  after  this  he  was  affianced,  by  his  father,  to  his 
cousin,  Margherita,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Genoa. 
She  is  said  to  have  been  the  most  beautiful  woman  in 
Italy  and  was  afterwards  called  the  "  Pearl  of  Savoy." 
The  wedding  festivities  were  celebrated  at  Turin  on 


242          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  22d  of  April,  1868,  and  were  very  brilliant.  Victor 
Emanuel,  Prince  of  Naples,  now  king,  was  born  the 
next  year. 

Victor  Emanuel  II.  had  been  careless  in  his  ex- 
penses, and  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  leader  of  the 
Left  proposed  that  his  debts  should  be  canceled  by 
the  nation ;  but  Humbert  replied  resolutely :  "  I  must 
pay  all  my  father's  obligations."  He  was  able  to 
accomplish  this  only  through  great  economy  in  his 
royal  household. 

The  exhibition  of  feeling  throughout  the  peninsula 
at  the  time  of  King  Humbert's  accession  to  the  throne 
proved  that,  though  slowly,  the  critical  point  had  been 
reached  and  safely  passed,  and  that  the  enduring 
strength  of  the  government  was  cemented  by  the  affec- 
tion of  the  people. 

At  first  the  Italian  government  simply  sought  to 
keep  up  friendly  relations  with  all  nations;  but  at  the 
Berlin  Congress  in  1878  it  became  apparent  that  it  was 
for  Italy's  interest  to  no  longer  abstain  from  formal 
alliances  with  other  powers.  France  had  never  for- 
given Italy  for  what  she  considered  the  latter's  in- 
gratitude in  refusing  support  in  the  war  against  Ger- 
many ;  and  the  breach  widened  when  France  took  pos- 
session of  Tunis,  a  country  Italy  wished  to  appro- 
priate. Out  of  this  Mediterranean  question  other 
jealousies  between  the  two  nations  arose,  and  Italy 
made  advances  to  Germany,  who  drew  Austria  into 
the  League ;  and  thus  in  1882  the  Triple  Alliance  was 
formed,  which  was  renewed  in  1887,  and  again  in  1891 
and  1896,  and  still  exists. 

On  June  2,  1882,  the  great  Italian  patriot  and  hero, 
Giuseppe  Garibaldi,  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-six, 
in  his  island  home  of  Caprera.  He  is  remembered  by 


Victor  Emanuel  IL  and  King  Humbert      243 

the  Italians  with  greater  enthusiasm  perhaps  than  any 
other  patriot,  while  the  garb  he  wore  is  still  affected 
by  his  followers  all  over  the  world.  His  love  of  liberty 
and  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his  country  is  more 
and  more  appreciated  by  all  who  comprehend  the  far- 
reaching  benefits  of  Italian  unity ;  and  his  name  is  sure 
to  be  perpetuated  through  all  time  as  one  of  the  great- 
est in  Italian  history.  The  Italian,  Giosue  Carducci, 
in  a  speech  made  at  Bologna,  gave  utterance,  among 
other  impassioned  sentiments,  to  the  following :  "  The 
glorious  figure  before  the  vision  of  our  childhood  and 
our  ideal  of  later  life  has  disappeared.  The  eyes  which 
sighted  Palermo  are  closed  forever.  The  heart  of  him 
who  made  Italy  one,  and  which  so  nobly  beat  and  never 
despaired,  has  yielded  to  the  fate  which,  soon  or  late, 
overtakes  all." 

Gradually  religious  changes  were  introduced  among 
the  people  of  Italy,  and  missionary  efforts  were  at- 
tempted in  some  of  the  principal  cities.  Hospital 
work  was  begun  and  schools  established,  among  them 
an  institution  for  girls,  while  colporteurs  and  Bible 
readers  were  kept  busy,  all  of  which  met  with  con- 
siderable opposition.  Several  Protestant  sects  are 
working  all  the  time  in  the  heart  of  Rome  and  Naples, 
there  being  many  English  churches  and  several  of  the 
American  denominations  in  Italy,  so  that  strangers 
from  our  own  land,  when  settling  down  in  the  large 
Italian  cities,  feel  that  they  have  a  religious  home. 
Rome,  however,  is  still  the  great  Catholic  center  of  the 
world,  as  is  seen  in  the  Christmas  and  Easter  festivi- 
ties, when  the  whole  populace  is  entirely  given  up 
to  Church  observances;  and  to  the  dispassionate 
looker-on  Rome  would  hardly  seem  like  the  Eternal 
City  if  these  forms  and  ceremonies  were  abolished. 


244         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Pope  Leo  XIII.,  although  a  shrewd  diplomat,  was  a 
devout  Christian,  the  interests  of  the  Church  through- 
out the  world  having  been  his  most  absorbing  care. 
His  greatest  desire  was  to  take  part  in  the  memorable 
ceremonies  of  the  Jubilee  Year  of  1900;  and  in  spite 
of  his  advanced  age  he  officiated  at  the  opening  of  the 
Holy  Door  in  St.  Peter's.  This  so  fulfilled  all  the 
hopes  he  had  entertained  of  seeing  the  end  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  that  it  was  feared  he  would  not  long 
survive  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth.  He  showed 
great  fortitude,  however,  throughout  that  year,  con- 
tinuing to  appear  occasionally  in  the  great  Basilica  and 
to  give  private  audiences.  He  took  part  in  the  cere- 
monies connected  with  the  shutting  of  the  great  Jubilee 
Door  in  St.  Peter's  on  the  24th  of  December,  190x3, 
there  being  above  the  lintel  a  tablet  stating  this  fact. 
Near  it  another  records  that  Leo  XII.  opened  and  shut 
the  Jubilee  Door  of  1825 ;  while  a  third  tablet  chronicles 
the  fact  that  Pius  VI.  officiated  at  a  similar  service  in 

1775- 

In  the  presence  of  a  large  audience  Leo  XIII. 
blessed  all  the  material  to  be  used  in  the  closing  of 
the  door,  and  then  threw  upon  the  threshold  three  tiny 
golden  shovelfuls  of  mortar.  Bricks,  engraved  with 
the  Pontifical  coat-of-arms  and  other  inscriptions, 
were  placed  over  a  diminutive  urn  filled  with  com- 
memorative medals  of  gold,  bronze  and  silver ;  and  the 
mechanical  labor  followed. 

The  years  of  Pope  Leo's  life  were  much  prolonged 
by  the  watchfulness  of  his  attendants  and  physicians, 
who  were  ever  at  hand  on  important  occasions. 
During  the  summer  months  he  spent  his  days  among 
the  walks  and  drives  of  the  Vatican  gardens,  which  are 
a  world  in  themselves,  breakfasting  and  dining  under 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      245 

the  trees,  where  he  received  visits  from  his  cardinals 
and  ministers. 

On  March  3,  1903,  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
Pope  Leo's  coronation  was  celebrated  with  elaborate 
display.  The  illuminations  which  the  Pope  observed 
from  his  study  windows  embraced  the  Trastevere  and 
the  Leonine  City,  and,  beyond,  the  view  extended  a  dis- 
tance of  seven  miles.  As  the  Pope  withdrew  from 
gazing  on  the  scene  he  remarked :  "  This  will  indeed 
be  a  pleasant  thing  to  dream  of." 

Although  the  Pope  endured  the  fatigue  and  ex- 
citement of  the  day  remarkably  well,  and  notwith- 
standing it  was  almost  five  months  before  the  end  came, 
from  this  time  his  strength  declined  perceptibly.  After 
a  noble  fight,  Leo  XIII.  passed  away  on  the  2Oth  of 
July,  1903,  at  the  age  of  ninety-three.  The  efforts  of 
his  physicians  had  been  unwearying  to  keep  the  silken 
cord,  so  finely  spun  out,  still  unbroken;  and  their 
endeavors  were  supplemented  by  his  own  almost  super- 
human tenacity,  which  kept  him  alive  nearly  three 
weeks  after  his  case,  a  complication  of  pleuro-pneu- 
monia,  was  pronounced  hopeless.  His  death  was 
grand,  calm  and  serene ;  and  according  to  the  testimony 
of  his  doctors  few  persons,  even  in  youth,  have  shown 
such  heroic  courage  in  dying.  It  was  the  birthday  fete 
of  Queen  Margherita ;  but  out  of  respect  to  His  Holi- 
ness no  salutes  were  fired ;  and  when  the  news  was  cir- 
culated that  the  end  had  come,  flags  and  ensigns  of  re- 
joicing were  withdrawn  from  the  streets  and  houses  all 
over  Rome.  The  Pope  had  always  had  confidence  in 
the  loyalty  of  the  royal1  family,  as  was  indicated  by  a 
remark  made  on  hearing  that  the  king  had  deferred  his 
visit  to  Paris :  "  We  know  how  chivalrous  the  House 
of  Savoy  has  ever  been  to  its  opponents." 


246         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Beside  the  same  bed  over  which  all  the  world  had 
watched  without  regard  to  creed  or  politics,  the  car- 
dinals soon  assembled  to  take  official  notice  of  the 
Pope's  decease.  Cardinal  Oreglia,  in  his  capacity  of 
Dean  of  the  Sacred  College,  approached  the  dead  Pon- 
tiff and  struck  his  forehead  with  a  silver  hammer,  call- 
ing him  by  name;  and  then  after  a  short  silence  he 
announced  in  the  Assembly  that  the  Pope  was  really 
dead.  After  this  came  the  ceremony  of  taking  off  the 
"  Fisherman's  Ring,"  this  amulet  having  belonged,  it 
is  said,  to  St.  Peter ;  and  it  is  claimed  that  it  has  been 
worn  by  every  Pope  since  that  time. 

Cablegrams  and  dispatches  were  immediately  issued, 
notifying  the  sovereigns  and  rulers  of  foreign  nations ; 
and  before  nightfall  many  messages  of  condolence 
were  received.  At  eight  o'clock  commenced  the  cease- 
less clanging  of  bells  from  the  four  hundred  churches 
of  Rome,  which  was  kept  up  for  an  hour,  until  the 
whole  city  seemed  a  tremendous  reverberation.  This 
was  repeated  at  the  same  time  in  the  evening  until  the 
day  of  the  funeral. 

Pope  Leo  XIII.  was  a  statesman  and  a  scholar  as 
well  as  an  ecclesiastic,  the  very  simplicity  of  his  charac- 
ter constituting  his  greatness.  It  is  said  of  him  that 
no  man  held  so  much  influence  for  good  in  the  last  two 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  during  which  time 
his  hand  was  visible  in  almost  every  public  event  of 
importance  transpiring  in  the  world.  He  was  an  inde- 
fatigable worker  to  the  last,  his  days  being  spent  in 
unremitting  labor  and  toil ;  and,  even  after  his  illness 
set  in,  it  grieved  him  when  he  saw  his  capacity  for 
work  diminishing. 

Pius  IX.,  with  his  rule  of  thirty-two  years,  was  the 
only  prelate  who  ever  reigned  longer  than  Leo  XIII., 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      247 

and  ten  other  Popes  each  held  the  sacred  office  for 
twenty  years. 

Pope  Leo  XIIL's  body  lay  in  state  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Peter's  until  the  funeral,  which  occurred  on 
the  25th  of  July,  1903,  and  the  vast  populace  was 
allowed  during  this  time  to  view  his  remains.  Ac- 
cording to  his  own  request,  his  body,  after  a  year's 
repose  in  St.  Peter's,  was  to  be  removed  to  St.  John  in 
Lateran,  while  an  ancient  custom  prescribed  that  his 
viscera  should  be  placed  in  the  crypt  of  the  Church  of 
St.  Anastasius.  When  they  sought  the  key  it  could 
not  be  found,  since  on  account  of  political  complica- 
tions the  heart  of  Pius  IX.  was  left  in  the  Vatican, 
and  this  ceremony  had  not  been  observed  since  the 
death  of  Gregory  XVI.  in  1846.  Accordingly  it  was 
found  necessary  to  break  down  the  door  of  the  vault. 

Nine  days  after  Leo  XIII.  died,  the  conclave  of  the 
cardinals  met  to  elect  his  successor  (the  word  from  cla- 
vis,  meaning  a  key,  since  it  is  an  assembly  behind  closed 
doors),  the  avenue  to  the  Vatican  having  been  walled 
up  and  all  the  cells  of  the  cardinals  locked  and  barred. 

There  were  many  interesting  incidents  connected  with 
this  imprisonment,  since  a  strict  examination  was  re- 
quired lest  something  contraband  should  find  its  way 
from  outside,  to  influence  the  cardinals  in  their  choice 
of  a  candidate.  One  day  there  were  three  hundred 
chickens,  five  hundred  newly  laid  eggs,  besides  crates 
of  fruit  and  quantities  of  vegetables,  salads,  etc.,  pre- 
sented at  the  little  wicket  for  examination.  The 
chickens  had  to  be  opened,  baskets  of  produce  turned 
topsy-turvy  and  even  the  eggs  were  not  unmolested. 
The  inferior  grades  of  cardinals  were  sometimes  even 
found  at  their  cell  window  answering  signals  sent  to 
influence  their  vote.  Cardinal  Gotti  is  said  to  have 


248          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

been  the  only  cardinal  who  did  not  complain  of  his 
quarters. 

After  Clement  IV.  died  the  choice  of  his  successor 
was  debated  two  years  and  a  half  before  any  decision 
was  reached,  while  Leo  XIII.'s  election  was  accom- 
plished in  thirty-six  hours. 

Each  morning  the  people  outside  the  Vatican  looked 
for  the  coil  of  smoke  coming  from  a  certain  chimney 
in  the  Sistine  Chapel,  which  denoted  that  the  ballots 
were  being  burned  because  no  decision  had  yet  been 
reached.  "La  fumata,  la  fumata,"  was  often  re- 
peated amongst  the  crowd  of  sixty  thousand  sometimes 
assembled  in  the  square  of  St.  Peter's,  this  undulating 
mass  of  humanity  being  kept  in  order  by  squads  of 
soldiers.  On  the  fourth  day  Rampolla  threw  his  in- 
fluence, which  up  to  this  time  was  the  greatest,  in  favor 
of  Sarto,  and  on  the  4th  of  August,  1903,  the  latter 
was  elected  as  Pius  X.  This  Giuseppi  Sarto  was  a 
cardinal,  sixty-eight  years  old,  and  the  Patriarch  of 
Venice.  At  first  he  refused  the  honor,  but  when  his 
duty  was  made  clear  he  finally  accepted,  not  without 
reluctance;  and  on  the  following  Sunday,  August  8, 
he  was  crowned  in  St.  Peter's,  the  first  Pope  to  re- 
ceive the  diadem  there  since  Gregory  XVI.  in  1831. 
Pius  IX.  in  1846  and  Leo  XIII.  in  1878  had  assumed 
the  office  in  the  Sistine  Chapel.  The  length  of  the 
Pope's  Pontificate  is  reckoned  from  his  coronation 
day. 

Pius  X.  is  a  man  from  the  common  people  and  much 
admired  in  Venice.  He  is  endowed  with  handsome 
features  and  a  magnificent  clear  voice  with  a  musical 
Venetian  accent.  When  chosen,  although  already 
somewhat  advanced  in  years,  he  walked  with  the  firm- 
ness of  a  man  in  his  prime.  He  was  first  a  parish 


Victor  Emanuel  II.  and  King  Humbert      249 

priest,  then  a  "canon  of  the  Cathedral  of  Treviso  and 
afterward  Bishop  of  Mantua.  He  was  made  a  cardinal 
in  1893  by  Leo  XIII.,  and  when  he  was  elected 
Patriarch  of  Venice,  the  highest  office  in  the  Catholic 
hierarchy,  considerable  opposition  was  raised  by  the 
Italian  government,  this  being  a  part  of  the  king's 
patrimony.  But,  being  a  friend  of  King  Humbert,  the 
difficulty  was  easily  solved  and  he  held  the  office  ten 
years,  beloved  by  the  Catholics  and  esteemed  by  the 
State. 

The  scene  in  the  Vatican  square  when  his  election 
was  announced  was  of  unparalleled  interest.  The  peo- 
ple were  waiting  as  usual  for  the  smoke,  when  Cardinal 
Macchi,  in  official  robes,  appeared  at  a  window  and  a 
wild  shout  went  up.  Just  as  he  was  reading  in  clear 
tones  the  preamble,  and  the  name  of  Sarto  was  pro- 
nounced, terrific  applause  of  acclamation  arose  from 
the  great  crowd.  In  vain  the  cardinal  waved  his  hand 
for  silence;  the  pent-up  feelings  of  those  who  had 
watched  day  after  day  for  the  "  fumata"  could  not  be 
suppressed. 

In  the  conclave  Sarto  was  the  only  candidate  strong 
enough  to  secure  the  two-thirds  vote  required  by  the 
Church.  It  was  believed  by  most  that  he  would  fol- 
low out  the  broad  lines  of  Leo  XIII.'s  policy,  since  he 
had  the  same  reputation  for  wisdom  and  culture,  and 
his  piety  is  said  to  possess  a  strong  element  of  common 
sense.  His  personality  and  dignity  are  in  keeping  with 
the  traditions  of  the  ablest  pontiffs  who  have  ruled  the 
Vatican,  though  he  is  not  a  man  of  strong  physique. 

It  is  said  that  Leo  XIII.  himself  predicted  at  one 
time  that  Sarto  would  be  his  successor.  Many  thought 
that  his  election  would  finally  result  in  the  union  of 
Church  and  State  in  Italy,  and  that  before  many 


250         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

decades  the  Popes  would  cease  to  imprison  themselves 
in  the  Vatican ;  but,  although  socialistic  inclinations 
betoken  necessity  of  co-operative  action  between 
Church  and  State,  and  the  Pope's  tendencies  favor 
such  a  policy,  the  calm  of  Italian  politics  has  not 
yet  been  disturbed  by  the  excitement  inevitable  in  the 
settlement  of  a  question  which  would  not  only  derange 
the  foundation  of  government,  but  tend  to  counteract 
embryonic  educational  influences. 


Improvements  and  Modern  Institutions       251 


CHAPTER   XVII 

PRINCES  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  SAVOY. — OFFICERS  OF  THE 
STATE  AND  ITS  VARIOUS  INSTITUTIONS. IMPROVE- 
MENT IN  CONDITION  OF  PEOPLE  IN  VARIOUS  SECTIONS 
AND  DEPARTMENTS. — VAST  EMIGRATION. 

THE  throne  of  Italy  is  hereditary  in  the  male  line  of 
the  House  of  Savoy,  which,  in  accordance  with  the 
Salic  Law,  debars  female  succession.  A  part  of  the 
ceremony,  when  the  title  of  the  King  of  Italy  is  as- 
sumed, is  that  he  accepts  the  crown  by  the  "  Grace  of 
God  and  the  Will  of  the  People."  This  exemplifies 
constitutional  government,  which  places  the  will  of 
the  people  as  equal  to  the  kingdom  given  by  God's 
grace. 

The  title  of  Prince  of  Naples  first  originated  in 
1869,  at  the  birth  of  the  present  king,  Victor  Emanuel 
III.,  the  only  child  of  King  Humbert  and  Queen 
Margherita.  King  Humbert's  brother,  Prince  Ama- 
deus,  died  in  Turin,  in  1890,  leaving  four  sons,  Eman- 
uele,  Duke  of  Aosta ;  Victor,  Count  of  Turin ;  Umberto, 
Count  of  Salemi,  and  Luigi,  Duke  of  the  Abruzzi.  The 
last  was  the  rightful  heir  in  succession  until  the  birth 
of  little  Prince  Humbert. 

The  Duke  of  Abruzzi  started  out  in  1899  on  an  ex~ 
pedition  to  the  North  Pole,  returning  in  1900.  He 
penetrated  as  far  as  86°  33'  north  latitude,  farther  than 
any  previous  explorer,  Nansen  only  going  as  far  as 
86°  14'.  Nansen  himself  met  him  on  his  return 
in  the  October  of  1900  at  Christiania,  and  received 


252         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

him  with  great  cordiality.  The  Duke  lost  several 
fingers  in  the  North  from  exposure  to  the  cold, 
and  was  thus  prevented  from  going  with  the 
party  who  left  their  sledges  on  the  28th  of  Feb- 
ruary in  order  to  explore  nearer  the  Pole.  They 
found  the  temperature  50°  below  zero,  Fahrenheit,  and 
three  out  of  the  six  died  from  exposure,  the  rest  being 
obliged  to  turn  back  on  the  nth  of  March.  The  Duke 
of  Abruzzi  was  born  in  Turin  in  1873. 

The  annual  allowance  of  the  King  of  Italy  is  fifteen 
million  liras.  He  acts  through  his  ministers,  nomi- 
nated by  himself,  and  taken  from  the  national  repre- 
sentation. These  protect  him  in  all  his  State  negotia- 
tions, their  signature  being  necessary  to  give  validity 
to  the  royal  decree.  With  the  help  of  the  Chamber 
the  king  makes  the  laws;  he  has  the  right  to  declare 
war,  and  to  bring  about  peace,  and  has  the  chief  com- 
mand on  land  and  sea.  He  coins  money,  stamped  with 
his  own  image,  confers  orders  and  has  the  right  to 
pardon.  He  also  calls  the  National  Assembly  together 
and  dissolves  it. 

The  coat-of-arms  of  Italy  is  a  white  cross  on  a  red 
field,  with  a  gold  regal  crown  on  a  shield  surrounded 
by  a  chain  of  the  Annunciata  Order ;  and  the  tricolored 
flag  of  the  nation  consists  of  vertical  stripes  of  red, 
green  and  white,  the  green  next  to  the  flagstaff. 

Negotiations  with  foreign  States,  commercial  and 
marine,  are  decided  by  the  National  Assembly,  which 
consists  of  Senate  and  Chamber  of  Deputies,  these 
together,  as  complements  of  each  other,  forming  the 
Parliament.  The  Senate,  which  is  the  Upper  House, 
has  no  fixed  number,  but  never  exceeds  four  hundred, 
the  members  being  appointed  for  life  by  the  king. 
The  princes  when  twenty-one  years  old  are  admitted 


Improvements  and  Modern  Institutions       253 

to  the  body,  and  when  twenty-five  have  a  voice  in 
its  measures;  the  president  of  the  body  is  elected  for 
the  session. 

Any  Italian  more  than  forty  years  of  age  out  of 


Longitude  Ea«t      It     from  Greenwich 


twenty-one  categories  is  eligible  to  the  Senate;  as  for 
instance  those  of  the  learned  class,  or  artists,  of  the 
class  of  high  officials  or  of  a  category  who  pay  the 


254         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

three  hundred  liras  in  taxes  to  the  State.  Only  a  cer- 
tain number,  however,  can  be  represented  from  each  of 
the  classes,  the  king's  appointments  being  subject  to 
an  examination  by  a  committee  chosen  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

In  case  of  high  treason,  and  also  in  the  impeachment 
of  ministers,  the  Senate  is  the  highest  court  of  justice. 
In  contrast  to  the  changing  House  of  Deputies,  the 
Senate  represents  the  Conservative  party,  although  all 
its  members  do  not  necessarily  belong  to  the  latter. 

The  Senate  is  not  equal  in  importance  to  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  without  whose  consent  the  laws 
are  not  valid.  The  Deputies  are  chosen  every  five 
years  by  a  College  of  Electors  behind  closed  doors ; 
and  its  members  are  selected  in  a  ratio  of  one  to  every 
fifty-seven  thousand  inhabitants,  making,  in  all,  about 
five  hundred.  These  must  be  thirty  years  old  or  up- 
ward, and  of  irreproachable  character.  Only  forty  of 
one  profession  can  have  a  seat,  but  in  every  category 
the  choice  is  made  by  lot,  and  those  who  are  not  chosen 
stand  open  to  the  next  election.  Nominally  the  king 
opens  the  Chamber  and  dissolves  it,  but  in  reality  the 
members  themselves  perform  this  function.  The 
choice  of  Deputies  gives  rise  to  much  party  feel- 
ing through  complaints  and  frequent  accusations  of 
bribery. 

When  there  is  a  vote  passed  by  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  unfavorable  to  the  cabinet,  the  latter  is  forced 
to  retire,  and  the  king  places  the  responsibility  of 
selecting  a  new  cabinet  on  the  leader  of  the  opposition. 
The  president  of  the  Chamber  is  chosen  from  the 
ministers. 

There  are  eleven  officers  in  the  cabinet :  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior,  of  Foreign  Affairs,  of  Justice,  of 


Improvements  and  Modern  Institutions       255 

the  Treasury,  of  Finance,  of  War,  of  the  Navy,  of 
Education,  of  Public  Works,  of  Agriculture,  of  In- 
dustry, and  of  Commerce,  as  well  as  of  Posts  and  Tele- 
graph. The  principal  incomes  are  derived  from  the 
land  tax  (eighty-eight  million  liras),  and  from  the 
building  and  movable  property  (three  times  that 
amount),  and  from  right  of  succession,  and  customs, 
nearly  eighty-six  millions  each. 

The  citizens  are  subject  to  military  duty  at  the  age 
of  twenty,  all  young  men  who  are  able-bodied  being 
obliged  to  serve  two  or  three  years,  though  the  more 
highly  educated  pay  a  tax  of  twelve  hundred  liras  and 
serve  only  one  year.  In  this  way  there  are  always  two 
hundred  and  fifty  or  three  hundred  thousand  men  ready 
for  military  service;  and  since  they  can  be  enlisted 
until  they  are  forty  years  old,  nearly  a  million  and  a 
half  of  men  are  at  command  in  case  of  war.  Though 
the  support  of  this  large  army  is  one  great  cause  of 
Italy's  poverty,  they  think  that  it  increases  their  dig- 
nity as  a  nation  and  wards  off  attack  from  the  outside. 
All  the  latest  inventions  have  been  introduced  into  the 
service;  but  notwithstanding  the  common  soldiers  are 
willing,  enthusiastic,  courageous  and  self-sacrificing, 
they  lack  technique,  and  the  officers  for  the  most  part 
have  never  greatly  distinguished  themselves. 

For  protection  of  the  restless  population  of  Italy  who 
live  among  the  mountains,  and  have  to  traverse  long 
and  difficult  distances  on  foot,  a  special  hunter  guard 
or  Alpine  force,  called  the  Carbinieri,  has  been  insti- 
tuted. There  are  twelve  legions  of  these,  composed  of 
forty-three  divisions,  consisting  of  thirty-nine  hundred 
mounted  gendarmes  and  four  thousand  foot.  They 
carry  light  cannon,  which  can  be  taken  to  pieces  and 
transported  on  the  backs  of  donkeys ;  and  chey  wear  a 


256         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

black  uniform  with  stripes  of  red  surmounted  by  long 
black  cloaks,  and  cocked  hats.  The  Carbinieri,  to  pre- 
vent surprise  from  the  criminals  they  are  tracking, 
always  go  in  pairs,  so  that  there  is  a  popular  joke  that 
they  are  born  twins.  The  fact  that  these  are  chosen 
from  the  Piedmontese  and  Tuscans  and  from  Lom- 
bardy,  because  more  reliable,  disaffects  the  southern 
Italians  and  arouses  envy  and  hatred  towards  them. 
This  corps  is  selected  from  those  who  in  their  three 
years'  obligatory  service  have  never  incurred  the 
slightest  punishment;  and  the  king's  guard  is  made 
up  of  picked  men  from  this  force.  The  Carbinieri 
have  done  much  to  suppress  brigandage  in  the  country 
districts. 

The  need  of  the  Carbinieri  is  still  apparent  from  the 
fact  that  in  the  October  of  1901  several  of  these 
brigands  were  captured,  among  them  one  Musolino, 
a  noted  and  dangerous  desperado,  who  had  escaped 
from  prison  where  he  was  serving  a  sentence  for  mur- 
der. He  had  lived  three  years  as  an  outlaw,  killing 
in  the  meantime  several  Carbinieri  and  many  citizens. 

Napoleon  in  one  of  his  speeches  said :  "  The  Italian 
nation  to  exist  must  have  a  strong  navy  to  enforce 
authority  over  her  islands  and  to  protect  her  coast." 
In  accordance  with  this  idea  Italy  has  made  her  naval 
power  equal  to  that  of  her  army,  and  in  doing  so  fulfills 
the  traditions  of  the  early  Marine  republics,  the  gigan- 
tic warships  of  which  were  the  first  examples  of  fine 
naval  armament.  The  shipyards  in  Venice,  Spezia, 
Taranto,  Naples  and  Castellamare  still  send  forth  many 
fine  ships. 

All  persons  who  after  the  age  of  ten  have  been  on 
the  sea  as  fishermen,  or  six  years  as  stokers  on  steam- 
ships, or  have  worked  in  shipyards,  are  subject  to 


Improvements  and  Modern  Institutions       257 

naval  duty.  They  enter  the  navy  at  eighteen  years  of 
age,  and  are  divided  into  three  classes.  First,  those 
who  join  the  navy  for  life  and  have  four  years  of 
active  service,  eight  years  in  the  Reserve,  and  six  years 
in  the  Naval  Reserve,  as  it  is  called.  Second,  those 
who  have  twelve  years  in  the  Reserve  and  six  years  in 
the  Naval  Reserve;  and  third,  the  exempts — mostly 
among  the  wealthy — those  who  enter  immediately  on 
the  so-called  Naval  Reserve  and  have  no  active  service. 
The  officers,  who  are  educated  at  Leghorn  in  a  naval 
school  like  the  German  one  at  Kiel,  are  given  a  general 
military  and  naval  education,  besides  being  taught  the 
minutiae  of  a  seafaring  life.  The  shipbuilding  engi- 
neers take  the  usual  engineering  course,  and  then  are 
taught  the  art  of  shipbuilding  in  special  schools. 

In  Piedmont  the  natural  warlike  inclination  has  been 
fostered  for  three  hundred  years  by  clever  military 
training.  Accordingly  the  nobility  of  the  land  for 
several  generations  have  accustomed  themselves  to 
military  service,  so  that  there  is  scarcely  an  aristo- 
cratic family  who  cannot  boast  of  brave  officers.  The 
father  of  Massimo  d'Azeglio  begged  his  wife  in  his 
will  not  to  put  on  mourning  in  case  he  should  fall 
fighting,  but  to  appear  in  holiday  attire;  since  she 
ought  to  consider  it  the  greatest  happiness  that  he 
had  been  permitted  to  give  his  life  for  his  king  and 
country.  If  one  of  his  little  sons  complained  of 
suffering,  d'Azeglio  would  say  to  him,  half  joking: 
"  When  a  Piedmontese  loses  both  his  arms  and  legs, 
and  has  two  wounds  in  his  body,  then,  and  not  until 
then,  ought  he  to  complain  of  not  feeling  well." 

Italy  is  a  centralized  government  in  the  sense  that 
its  departments  are  dependent  upon  the  chief  govern- 
ment. There  has  been  an  effort  made  to  decentralize 


258         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  provinces,  namely,  to  give  them  each  a  legislature 
of  their  own  like  our  separate  States,  though  still  de- 
pendent upon  the  administration  at  Rome.  It  has  been 
thought  that  the  length  and  narrowness  of  the  penin- 
sula renders  a  centralized  government  difficult,  and 
prevents  that  brotherly  feeling  which  engenders  a 
desire  for  consolidation.  But  the  greater  facilities  of 
the  present  era  for  communication  by  means  of  the 
numerous  railroads  and  telegraphs  have  brought  all 
countries,  and  especially  the  divisions  of  countries,  to- 
gether, and  made  all  sections  cosmopolitan. 

Italy  is  now  divided  into  sixteen  departments,  sixty- 
nine  provinces,  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  circles, 
eighty-seven  districts,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  sub- 
districts,  and  eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-one 
townships.  When  the  census  was  taken  in  1881  there 
was  a  population  of  twenty-eight  million,  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine  thousand,  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  (28,459,628)  inhabitants;  but  in  1900,  in  spite  of 
emigration,  it  had  increased  to  nearly  thirty-two  and 
a  half  million  (32,449,750),  and,  with  colonies,  about 
thirty-five  million.  The  extent  of  the  kingdom  is 
now  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand,  six  hundred  and 
seventy-five  square  miles,  making  a  population  of  two 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  persons  to  a  square  mile. 
The  population  of  Rome  doubled  between  1871  and 
1881,  so  that  at  the  latter  date  it  was  half  a  million, 
and  in  1899  it  was  five  hundred  and  twelve  thousand, 
four  hundred  and  twenty-five.  As  the  population  in- 
creased dwelling  houses  had  to  be  provided,  often  at 
the  sacrifice  of  old  classical  buildings,  and  for  some 
years  Rome  has  had  the  air  of  a  modern  city,  which 
towers  above  the  monuments  of  ancient  Rome  and  now 
extends  a  long  distance  beyond  the  Leonine  City. 


Improvements  and  Modern  Institutions       259 

It  soon  became  so  apparent  that  there  is  room  in 
Rome  for  the  spiritual  sovereignty  of  the  Church  as 
well  as  for  the  temporal  glory  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Italy,  that  Leo  XIII.  overcame  much  of  his  prejudice 
against  the  agencies  which  had  robbed  the  Popes  of 
their  temporal  power,  and  for  some  time  previous  to 
his  death  permitted  the  functionaries  of  the  Papal 
court  to  maintain  relation  to  some  extent  with  the  rep- 
resentatives of  Italian  liberalism. 

When,  a  little  while  before  his  death,  Massimo 
d'Azeglio  exclaimed :  "  Now  that  Italy  is  made  we 
must  make  the  Italians ,"  he  meant  that  the  half  cen- 
tury during  which  the  kingdom  had  been  built  up 
was  entirely  inadequate  to  mold  the  character  of  a 
great  people.  Since  then  another  fifty  years  has 
passed,  and  yet  Italy  is  not  quite  up  to  the  standard  of 
the  most  advanced  nations  of  the  twentieth  century ;  but 
considering  the  short  period  since  its  consolidation  in 
1870,  it  would  be  unjust  to  compare  it  with  countries 
which  have  had  centuries  of  freedom  and  unity;  and 
in  the  words  of  General  Ponzo  di  San  Martino :  "  It 
will  take  yet  another  century  for  us  to  show  the  world 
what  Italy  can  do." 

It  is  the  elevation  of  the  masses  which  will  bring 
about  the  return  of  greatness  to  Italy.  At  present 
their  condition,  compared  to  that  of  other  nations,  is 
pitiable,  especially  in  the  south.  In  parts  of  the  old 
Papal  States,  particularly  in  the  Marches,  some  of  the 
poor  live  the  year  round  on  chestnuts,  and  even  on 
acorns,  while  in  Milan  the  frequent  subsistence  on 
corn-meal  disorders  the  physical  system  and  engenders 
disease.  There  are  also  in  this  section  tenement 
houses  where  at  night  eighteen  hundred  souls  are 
crowded  together  like  cattle  in  their  stalls.  These 


260         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

poor  people  spend  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  hours  in 
the  workshop,  some  of  the  men  receiving  only  twelve 
cents  a  day,  the  women  earning  but  four  cents ;  and  in 
the  south,  in  some  provinces  of  Sicily  and  Calabria, 
they  have  only  the  waste  of  what  they  help  to  manu- 
facture, receiving  no  money  at  all.  This  manner  of 
life  has  not  only  dwarfed  them  mentally,  but  stunted 
their  physical  growth,  so  that  the  standard  of  height 
for  military  service  has  been  lowered.  In  spite  of  all 
their  poverty,  the  Italians  are  taxed  more  heavily  than 
any  other  nation — it  is  said  to  the  extent  of  an  average 
of  fifteen  dollars  per  head.  There  is  a  tax  on  every- 
thing, both  the  necessities  and  the  luxuries,  on  railroad 
tickets,  and  on  the  smallest  exchange ;  and  indeed  there 
is  no  package  too  minute  for  a  government  stamp  to 
be  affixed;  so  that  it  is  thought  that  it  averages  four 
per  cent,  on  the  annual  income  of  each  individual. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  the  enormous  emigration, 
which  amounts  to  over  three  hundred  thousand  a  year. 
This  happens  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  nearly  fourteen 
million  acres  of  uncultivated  land  remain  unredeemed 
and  that  the  government  has  to  import  eighty  million 
dollars'  worth  of  cereals  annually.  Although  the  in- 
crease in  emigration  of  able-bodied  men  from  Italy 
seems  enormous,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  in  spite 
of  this,  the  census  shows  an  increase  of  about  forty- 
four  per  cent,  since  1860;  and  that,  if  emigration 
should  stop,  the  population,  which  is  now  about  thirty- 
two  million,  would  in  the  course  of  a  century  amount 
to  nearly  a  hundred  million.  Accordingly  it  is  esti- 
mated that  if  Italy  became  as  densely  populated  pro- 
portionately as  the  province  of  Genoa,  where  there  are 
twice  as  many  people  to  the  square  mile  as  elsewhere  in 
Italy,  at  the  end  of  this  century  she  could  not  contain 


Improvements  and  Modern  Institutions       261 

much  more  than  half  her  population,  since  fifty-five 
million  is  about  the  maximum  capacity  of  the  whole 
peninsula;  hence  the  necessity  of  the  balance  of  the 
hundred  million  emigrating  in  the  course  of  the  next 
hundred  years. 

During  the  past  two  decades  five  million  have  gone 
out  of  Italy  into  other  countries.  One  hundred  thou- 
sand annually  enter  Switzerland,  and  nearly  as  many 
more  go  to  the  United  States ;  though  those  who  go  to 
Switzerland  often  return  to  Italy  later,  with  a  little 
stock  of  money  saved,  and  settle  down  in  diminutive 
homes.  There  is  an  immense  Italian  colony  in  New 
York  City  as  well  as  in  other  large  American  towns; 
while  in  London  the  Italian  quarter  amounts  to  a  very 
considerable  city  in  itself.  Many  emigrate  to  South 
America,  where  they  do  not  meet  with  the  same  diffi- 
culties in  language  that  they  do  in  the  United  States. 
The  day  is  not  far  off  when  the  Argentine  Republic, 
ten  times  as  large  as  Italy  itself,  will  be  at  least  half 
inhabited  by  Italians,  and  a  new  Italy  will  be  formed 
across  the  sea. 

The  lack  of  proportion  in  the  management  of  inter- 
nal affairs  in  Italy  is  apparent  when  we  realize  that  it 
has  cost  one  hundred  and  five  million  dollars  to  sup- 
port the  African  colony  of  Erythrea  in  the  last  sixteen 
years,  and  the  expenses  of  the  army  are  over  seventy- 
one  million,  while  only  eight  hundred  thousand  are 
used  up  in  redeeming  uncultivated  land. 

The  most  disheartening  aspect  of  the  situation  in 
Italy  is  the  increase  of  crime.  "  In  that  region  of  the 
Papal  States  where  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  taught  the 
pure  gospel  of  peace  and  charity,  sanctifying  many 
who  listened  to  his  doctrines,  four  thousand  murders 
are  committed  annually."  But  these  discouraging  feat- 


262         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

ures  are  the  result  of  centuries  of  decay,  political 
slavery,  and  moral  degradation.  It  is  well  to  add  that 
in  the  north  there  is  more  of  fraud,  just  because  there 
is  less  violence;  for  while  inherited  criminality  of  a 
semi-barbarous  civilization  acts  rudely  and  frankly, 
attacking  with  the  knife,  modern  delinquency  works 
in  the  dark,  and  assumes  a  mask  of  hypocrisy. 

The  modern  facilities  of  communication  have  in- 
creased the  traffic  and  have  brought  into  Italy  twenty- 
five  thousand  to  seventy-five  thousand  tourists  annu- 
ally in  the  last  twenty-five  years. 

In  the  time  of  Ferdinand  of  Naples,  called  "  Bomba," 
the  percentage  of  illiteracy  in  some  of  the  provinces 
of  Sicily  was  ninety-nine,  and  the  average  throughout 
the  peninsula  was  then  seventy-five  per  cent. ;  and  even 
in  Tuscany  public  instruction  did  not  exist.  As  is 
sometimes  the  case  at  present,  at  that  time  public 
letter  writers,  often  people  of  culture  who  had  seen 
better  days,  were  stationed  in  conspicuous  places  in 
order  to  help  the  ignorant. 

Since  the  consolidation  of  Italy  things  have  im- 
proved greatly;  for  where  sixty-four  per  cent,  of  the 
entire  peninsula  could  not  read  or  write  in  1871,  at 
present  there  are  scarcely  forty  per  cent.  At  that  era 
there  were  only  about  thirty  thousand  public  primary 
schools  in  all  Italy,  costing  six  million  dollars,  with 
about  a  million  pupils,  while  now  there  are  sixty  thou- 
sand schools,  and  over  three  million  pupils,  which  cost 
annually  fifteen  million  dollars.  Every  parish  has  a 
girls'  and  boys'  school  with  a  teacher  for  every  seventy 
pupils;  and  larger  cities  have  higher  elementary 
schools.  Unfortunately,  however,  education  is  oblig- 
atory only  from  six  to  nine  years  of  age,  and  they 
fail  to  enforce  even  this  law  on  account  of  insufficient 


Improvements  and  Modern  Institutions       263 

means  and  lack  of  teachers.  This  latter  difficulty  has 
been  partially  obviated,  however,  by  the  establishment 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  normal  schools.  Higher 
schools  are  not  free;  and  although  Italy  was  the 
earliest  seat  of  universities,  at  present  their  standard 
is  much  lower  than  elsewhere.  It  is  even  said  that 
many  of  their  college  students  know  hardly  more  than 
high  school  graduates  in  other  countries. 

For  many  years  voting  was  restricted  to  those  who 
paid  taxes  to  the  amount  of  forty  liras;  for  it  was 
thought  that  there  was  danger  from  the  suffrage  of 
the  poor  and  ignorant  who  were  indifferent  to  public 
questions.  The  qualification  has  now  been  extended 
to  all  who  are  of  age  and  can  read  and  write;  and  if 
there  were  no  illiterates  there  would  be  seven  million 
on  the  electoral  list.  As  it  is,  there  ought  to  be  four 
million  voters,  when  in  fact  only  two  million  citizens 
have  signed  the  voting  list,  and  only  about  a  million 
and  a  third  went  to  the  polls  at  the  last  general  elec- 
tion. Therefore  it  is  apparent  that  it  is  the  will  of 
the  minority  which  governs  Italy,  and  that  the  most 
potent  cause  of  this,  and  the  one  which  might  prevent 
Italy  from  becoming  a  great  and  glorious  nation,  is 
the  lack  of  education  among  the  common  people. 

There  are  three  times  as  many  post  and  telegraph 
offices  in  Italy  as  there  were  in  1870,  the  postal  matter 
also  being  trebled.  The  commerce  has  gained  ninety- 
nine  per  cent.,  and  her  exports  one  hundred  and  twenty 
per  cent.,  since  1870.  Beggars  are  at  present  practi- 
cally confined  to  the  south ;  and  Florence  and  Naples, 
which  have  been  centers  of  infection,  are  now  largely 
rebuilt;  so  that  where  in  1872  the  death  rate  in  Rome 
was  forty-one  and  eight-tenths  per  thousand,  in  1897  it 
was  only  fourteen  and  three-tenths. 


264         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

But  the  greatest  foe  of  Italy  is  of  her  own  house- 
hold, the  household  of  faith,  the  clericals  being  her 
bitterest  enemies ;  for,  since  they  have  condescended  to 
take  part  in  the  government  they  are  ready  to  support 
any  antagonist,  whether  republic  or  empire.  These 
political  differences,  however,  have  at  present  little 
effect  on  public  tranquillity.  Thus,  "  the  year  that 
Pius  IX.  was  at  the  Vatican,  Victor  Emanuel  II.  at 
the  Quirinal,  and  Garibaldi  at  the  Villa  Casalini,  these 
three  men,  who  had  fought  each  other  for  thirty  years, 
lived  in  the  same  city  without  being  in  conflict.  When 
the  philosopher,  Giovanni  Bovio,  came  to  Rome  and 
saw  the  situation,  he  exclaimed :  '  This  is  not  a  town, 
it  is  the  world ! '  " 

When  after  the  taking  of  Rome  the  clericals,  a  large 
part  of  the  conservative  element,  were  forbidden  by 
the  Pope  to  vote,  the  "  Right  "  ceased  to  exist,  and  the 
traditional  party  lines  of  "  Right  and  Left "  gradually 
disappeared;  but  afterwards  these  two  parties  again 
took  shape,  and  in  addition  to  these  the  Socialists  be- 
came an  important  factor  with  which  to  reckon,  they 
having  increased  from  seventy-six  thousand  in  1895 
to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  in  1897. 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature          265 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

ABYSSINIAN  WAR. — CRISPI. — AUTHORS. 
1885—1899    A.    D. 

IN  1880  the  Florio-Rubatino  Navigation  Company 
ceded  to  the  Italian  government  their  coaling  station 
on  the  Bay  of  Assab  on  the  Red  Sea,  which  she  had 
held  since  1870;  and  in  1885  the  Italians  were  attacked 
with  the  widespread  fever  for  colonization.  The 
English  were  at  this  time  engaged  in  trying  to  absorb 
the  Soudan ;  and  now  Italy,  desiring  to  gain  their  favor, 
sent  troops  to  take  possession  of  Massowah.  When 
Khartoum  fell  the  Italians  made  friendly  overtures  to 
John,  the  Negus  of  Abyssinia,  hoping  thus  to  attract 
the  inland  trade  to  their  new  port  of  Massowah.  But 
the  Negus  was  not  so  easily  pacified,  and,  having  sent  a 
large  force  to  Dogali,  he  surrounded  a  division  of  five 
hundred  Italians  and  massacred  them.  This  was  the 
signal  for  war;  and  in  January,  1888,  the  Negus  en- 
camped before  the  Italian  fortifications  at  Massowah, 
but  later  thought  it  best  to  retire  with  his  large  force 
without  engaging  in  battle. 

Menelik,  the  mighty  King  of  Shoa,  revolted  from 
his  allegiance  to  the  Negus  John,  who  was  mortally 
wounded  in  the  fray.  This  Menelik,  though  still  half 
civilized,  is  a  much  better  sovereign  than  his  prede- 
cessors, such  as  the  usurper  Theodore,  who  traced 
their  pedigree  from  the  ancient  line  as  far  back  as 
Solomon  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba. 

When  in  1887^  Crispi  became  prime  minister  after 


266         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  death  of  Depretis,  the  Italian  government,  wishing 
still  further  to  enlarge  its  territory  in  Africa,  occupied 
Keran  and  Asmara,  and  united  with  Menelik,  who 
pledged  himself  to  support  them.  Crispi  called  his 
new  colony  in  Africa  Erythrea,  from  the  Greek  name 
of  the  Red  Sea;  and  a  large  protectorate  was  estab- 
lished over  a  considerable  extent  of  the  Somali  penin- 
sula. Crispi,  who  thought  that  by  these  conquests  a 
great  colonial  career  was  about  to  open  for  Italy,  has 
always  been  censured  as  the  one  to  blame  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  war. 

In  his  early  history  Crispi  was  known  as  an  adven- 
turous, ambitious,  and  daring  spirit,  he  having  been 
an  animating  force  throughout  the  struggle,  which  led 
to  the  overthrow  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies. 
After  being  repeatedly  banished  on  account  of  his 
fanatical  tendencies,  he  wandered  in  the  disguise  of  a 
tourist,  and  sometimes  as  a  journalist,  between  London, 
Paris  and  Italy,  the  agent  of  the  United  Italian  party, 
organizing  committees  to  incite  revolution.  He  sided 
with  Mazzini  against  the  Piedmont  alliance  with  Louis 
Napoleon,  it  being  understood  that  if  at  any  time  Vic- 
tor Emanuel  himself  became  the  head  of  an  invading 
army,  they  would  unite  with  him.  Having  returned  to 
Naples,  Crispi  was  allowed  to  land  on  the  3Oth  of 
August;  and  on  the  I3th  of  May,  1860,  he  set  out  with 
"The  Thousand,"  under  the  command  of  Garibaldi. 
His  acts  were  so  decided  that  he  is  said  to  have  been 
the  "  best  abused  "  man  in  Italy  next  to  Mazzini.  He, 
with  Garibaldi  and  Mazzini,  adhered  to  the  original 
programme  of  freeing  Venice  and  Naples  and  crown- 
ing Victor  Emanuel  King  of  Rome. 

Although  the  Cavour  party  wished  to  keep  Crispi 
out  of  Parliament,  he  was  not  only  elected,  but,  being 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature          267 

very  poor,  his  electors  supported  him  in  Turin  until 
his  success  as  a  lawyer  rendered  him  independent. 
During  the  '6o's  he  was  the  leader  of  the  extreme  Left, 
and  was  called  "  an  Ishmaelite  among  journalists  " ; 
and  he  was  ever  after  no  cipher  in  politics.  He  was 
an  advocate  of  a  vigorous  policy  against  Austria  in 
1866,  and  was  then  opposed  to  Depretis.  He  was  af- 
terwards, however,  Minister  of  Finance,  in  Depretis' 
cabinet,  not  only  succeeding  him  in  1887  as  premier, 
but  also  assuming  the  posts  of  home  and  foreign 
minister.  Soon  after  this  he  paid  the  memorable  visit 
to  Bismarck,  which  resulted  in  the  entrance  of  Italy 
into  the  Triple  Alliance. 

The  undertaking  of  vast  naval  and  military  schemes 
brought  Italy  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  and  a  series 
of  financial  crises  followed;  and  in  1889  two  attempts 
were  made  on  Crispi's  life.  His  refusal  to  consider 
the  question  of  retrenchment  in  military  and  naval 
affairs  led  to  the  defeat  of  his  ministry  in  1891 ;  but 
after  the  term  of  Signor  di  Rudini  and  the  resignation 
of  Signor  Giolitti,  Crispi  was  again  head  of  the  Cham- 
ber in  1894. 

Notwithstanding  Menelik's  shortcomings  as  an 
African  barbarian,  in  this  war  he  proved  himself  a 
great  statesman.  He  claims  to  sustain  a  Christian 
government;  and  he  and  his  wife,  an  uncommonly 
intellectual  woman,  lead  a  well-ordered  life,  going  to 
church  service  daily,  and  Sundays  to  the  Holy  Trin- 
ity Church.  They  live  in  great  splendor  at  Aditis 
Adab  in  East  Africa,  and  are  very  much  interested  in 
the  modern  accouterments  of  living,  new  inventions, 
etc.,  Menelik  having  for  his  chief  military  officer  a 
Swiss  engineer  by  the  name  of  Ilg  from  Zurich,  Swit- 
zerland, who  is  really  his  prime  minister.  The  crown 


268         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  Menelik  is  said  to  be  so  heavy  that  he  cannot  speak 
without  its  being  lifted. 

In  1893  Menelik  got  control  of  all  Abyssinia  and 
refused  to  recognize  the  Italian  protectorate.  Taking 
courage  from  this,  the  Dervishes,  followers  of  Osman 
Digma,  annoyed  by  the  Italian  advance,  stormed  the 
fort  of  Agordat,  but  were  defeated  with  great  loss,  and 
in  1894  General  Baratieri  succeeded  in  expelling  the 
remnant  of  their  band  from  Kassala,  thus  securing  the 
safety  of  the  Italian  colony  on  that  side.  Italy  and 
Abyssinia  now  came  to  open  warfare,  and  though  Bara- 
tieri succeeded  in  occupying  the  whole  Tigris  by  de- 
feating Ras  Mangascia,  the  viceroy,  at  Coatit  and 
Senefeh,  in  1895,  tne  latter  secured  the  aid  of  Menelik, 
and  with  a  large  force  carried  all  Abyssinia  with  him 
in  turn,  advancing  against  Baratieri.  The  latter  was 
badly  equipped  and  poorly  supported  at  home  by  the 
ministry,  who  knew  nothing  about  the  situation  in 
the  East,  and  did  not  look  out  that  the  resources  were 
sufficient  to  prosecute  the  war. 

In  December,  1895,  Major  Toselli  was  killed  at 
Amba  Alagi,  while  resisting  a  large  force  of  the 
enemy.  Major  Galliano,  at  Makaleh,  held  out  against 
the  Abyssinians  for  a  month ;  then,  not  being  relieved 
and  seeing  his  men  dying  for  want  of  water,  he  de- 
cided to  blow  up  the  fort;  but  Menelik,  either  out  of 
respect  for  their  bravery,  or  because  he  had  himself 
been  meeting  with  great  losses,  allowed  them  to  march 
out  and  join  Baratieri  at  Adigrat. 

After  reinforcements  arrived,  General  Baratieri,  not- 
withstanding his  hardships,  kept  on  the  defensive, 
but  on  the  ist  of  March  he  led  fourteen  thousand 
men  into  action  against  the  Abyssinians  at  the  fateful 
Battle  of  Adowah.  On  account  of  the  lack  of  good 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature  269 

generalship  in  advancing,  the  Italians  were  routed 
by  the  enemy,  who  greatly  outnumbered  them.  Some 
seven  thousand,  a  third  of  their  army,  was  slain,  and 
sixty  or  seventy  guns  taken.  Among  the  dead  there 
were  several  prominent  generals,  including  General 
Arimondi  and  General  Galliano,  who  had  just  been 
promoted,  for  his  distinguished  services  at  Makaleh, 
to  the  position  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  General  Dabor- 
mida  was  mortally  wounded.  Another  third  of  the 
forces  were  taken  prisoners  under  General  Albertone, 
who  bore  the  brunt  of  the  battle;  but  the  latter  was 
missing  after  the  fight  was  over.  General  Baratieri, 
who  was  wounded,  was  tried  by  court-martial  for 
inefficiency,  and,  though  acquitted,  was  superseded 
by  General  Baldissera,  who  arrived  five  days  after 
and  proceeded  to  reorganize  the  army  in  Erythrea. 
Menelik  was  too  cautious  to  advance  further. 

The  people  were  greatly  aroused  at  the  news  from 
Adowah,  and  accused  the  government  of  mismanage- 
ment, censuring  Crispi  for  forcing  upon  their  country 
such  vast  and  unprofitable  projects  without  sufficient 
resources  to  back  them. 

In  the  meantime  the  troops  left  in  Adigrat,  together 
with  two  other  garrisons,  several  thousand  prisoners 
in  all,  were  waiting  for  peace  in  order  to  gain  their 
release.  On  the  5th  of  March  Crispi  again  gave  up 
his  ministry  to  Rudini,  who  rejected  the  former's  ex- 
pansion policy.  At  the  same  time  he  relinquished 
Italy's  newly  acquired  possessions,  restricting  their 
boundaries  to  the  Mareb-Belesae-Muna  line,  thus  vir- 
tually retaining  only  their  colony  of  Erythrea.  Finally 
the  prisoners  were  liberated  at  the  cost  to  Italy  of  a 
large  ransom;  and  later  the  popular  feeling  was  that 
the  English,  in  order  to  keep  the  advantage  in  their 


270          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Soudanese  expedition,  had  unduly  influenced  Italy  to 
give  up  Kassala,  which  the  latter  had  just  ceded  to 
them.  Then  the  people  realized  that  it  would  be  a 
long  time  before  Italy  would  be  able  to  "  draw  from 
her  foot  the  thorn  of  Abyssinia";  and  when  three 
years  later,  in  1899,  it  was  thought  that  the  English 
were  trying  to  spur  them  on  to  regain  what  they  had 
lost  at  Adowah,  they  said  that  they  would  not  again 
"pull  the  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire  for  England"  as 
they  had  done  at  Kassala. 

Some  time  before  this,  frauds  had  been  detected  in 
the  management  of  several  of  the  State  banks,  and 
investigations  brought  to  light  the  fact  that  there  was 
dishonesty  in  various  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment. Cavallotti,  one  of  the  writers  of  the  day,  and 
the  leader  of  the  "  Left,"  was  at  the  head  of  this  move- 
ment, and  was  a  great  instrument  in  again  bringing 
about  the  fall  of  Crispi. 

Just  at  this  time,  in  1898,  the  effect  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War  raised  the  price  of  bread  and  precipi- 
tated notorious  riots  in  Milan,  which  were  only  sup- 
pressed by  the  imprisonment  of  many.  In  this  revolt 
the  nation  thought  they  recognized  an  attempt  to  un- 
dermine the  great  structure  of  Italian  unity.  But  the 
spirits  of  the  people  were  raised  and  the  populace  op- 
portunely diverted  by  a  splendid  exposition  at  Turin, 
where  for  the  next  six  months  thousands  of  people  had 
occasion  to  notice  the  great  progress  which  Italy  had 
made  during  half  a  century. 

The  king,  by  the  advice  of  his  minister,  Pellou,  had 
issued  a  decree  against  the  Socialists,  which  had  refer- 
ence to  the  riots  of  1899  m  Milan.  This  was  the 
occasion  of  great  disturbances  in  the  Chamber,  so  that 
Parliament  was  dissolved  and  Zanardelli,  president 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature  271 

of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  resigned  in  favor  of 
Chinaglia. 

The  society  called  the  Mafia  had  sprung  up  among 
the  Italians,  very  much  like  the  old  Vehm-Gericht 
which  did  such  deadly  work  in  Germany  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  At  their  instigation,  during  the  year 
1899,  Nota-Bartolo  was  thrown  off  a  train  going  at 
full  speed  for  trying  to  expose  their  practices.  Deputy 
Palizzuolo  was  at  the  time  suspected  of  complicity 
with  the  society,  and  later  was  tried  and  convicted, 
and  in  1902  was  sentenced  as  being  privy  to  the  deed. 

It  has  been  said  that  all  Italy's  achievements  during 
the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century — her  dignity  as 
a  nation,  her  ability  in  uniting  heterogeneous  particles, 
and  her  political  successes — were  rivaled  by  her  con- 
quests in  literature  during  the  first  half  of  the  century. 

The  nineteenth  century  had  begun  with  the  Peace  of 
Luneville,  in  1801,  a  peace  which  Alfieri  said  "  held  all 
Europe  in  arms  and  terror."  Parini  had  died  two 
years  before,  and  two  years  after  Alfieri  passed  away, 
he  whom  Gioberti  called  the  "  Restorer  of  Italian 
Genius." 

The  poet  Giuseppi  Parini  was  born  in  1729,  and 
from  the  time  of  his  first  poems,  which  were  published 
when  he  was  only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  his  des- 
tiny in  letters  was  assured  and  his  influence  in  literary 
circles  established. 

The  writings  of  Vittorio  Alfieri,  on  the  contrary, 
were  during  his  lifetime  more  influential  from  a  polit- 
ical point  of  view ;  yet  it  was  he  who  elevated  the  Ital- 
ian drama,  great  theaters  dating  from  that  era.  His 
most  popular  tragedy  was  "  Saul " ;  and  he  also  pub- 
lished many  poems  in  which  he  exalted  liberty  and 
sung  of  a  new  Italy  and  a  new  life  for  her  people. 


272         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

The  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century  had  crossed 
the  Alps  and,  after  communicating  with  the  French, 
German  and  English,  had  translated  their  books  and 
caught  their  spirit;  and  from  this  contagion  the  first 
Italian  novel  was  derived,  "  The  Last  Letters  of  Jacob 
Ortis,"  by  Ugo  Foscolo,  which  introduced  the  litera- 
ture of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  sentiment  of  the 
Italians  in  the  Napoleonic  age  are  brought  out  in  the 
life  and  works  of  Foscolo  and  Monti.  The  other 
writers  of  that  period  were  but  satellites  who  reflected 
but  little  of  the  white  heat  of  the  times. 

Foscolo,  though  still  young,  having  been  bora  in 
1778,  was  no  longer  full  of  the  illusion  and  hopeful- 
ness of  youth  when  he  wrote  the  novel  in  which  he 
depicts  his  grief  at  the  course  of  Napoleon  in  selling 
the  liberty  of  Venice,  a  city  with  a  record  of  thirteen 
centuries  of  splendid  independence.  In  1827,  several 
years  before  his  death,  he  published  his  sublime  poem, 
"  The  Sepolcri,"  written  in  1806,  reminding  the  Ital- 
ians that  only  national  traditions  and  the  memory  of 
the  illustrious  dead  would  be  able  to  bring  about  the 
regeneration  of  Italy. 

Vincenzo  Monti,  though  an  older  man,  born  in  1754 
and  dying  in  1828,  also  lived  in  the  Napoleonic  era. 
He  had  more  confidence  in  Napoleon  than  in  the  Ital- 
ian nation;  and,  though  he  had  once  clung  to  the 
Papacy  and  railed  at  revolt,  he  now  devoted  his  life  to 
revolution,  even  endorsing  the  tragic  putting  away  of 
Louis  XVI.  He  clothed  his  language  in  classical  and 
mythological  garb,  in  relating  contemporaneous  events, 
and  gained  the  name  of  poet  of  the  Italian  government. 

When  Napoleon  was  Emperor  of  France  and  King 
of  Italy  Monti  made  him  the  sole  subject  of  his  songs 
and  poems,  celebrating  his  victories  in  the  "  II  Bardo  " 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature  273 

and  other  books,  at  the  same  time  that  Foscolo,  anxious 
and  aloof,  was  at  Brescia  writing  his  patriotic 
"  Sepolcri." 

The  work,  however,  which  endeared  Monti  to  pos- 
terity and  showed  his  perfection  in  writing  verse,  was 
the  translation  of  the  "  Iliad." 

When  Napoleon  had  renounced  his  dominion  in 
Italy,  and  Austria  had  regained  her  hold  in  that  penin- 
sula, a  mental  activity  took  the  place  of  the  din  of 
arms,  and  the  writers  of  the  day  again  returned  to  let- 
ters and  study. 

While  Foscolo  was  far  away  in  exile  doing  his  best 
work,  and  Monti  had  grown  old  and  ill  in  the  advanc- 
ing century,  two  other  sovereigns  in  letters  grew  to 
maturity — Alexander  Manzoni  and  Giacomo  Leopardi. 
These  two  men,  who  came  from  different  parts  of  Italy 
and  possessed  diverse  characteristics  and  education, 
gave  to  the  Italian  language  some  immortal  works. 
Following  the  example  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Manzoni 
introduced  the  historical  novel,  representing  Lombard 
and  Spanish  society  during  the  first  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  the  character  and  lives  of  obscure 
men  in  the  most  unhappy  epoch  of  Italian  history. 
Although  Manzoni's  theories  leaned  toward  romanti- 
cism, in  his  novels  he  brought  real  people  before  his 
readers,  adapting  them  to  the  era  in  which  they  lived ; 
and  realism  soon  after  characterized  Italian  litera- 
ture. 

A  Christian  spirit  of  charity  and  justice  ran  through 
all  Manzoni's  writings  and  developed  in  him  the  love 
for  his  country.  "  I  Promessi  Sposi  "  and  "  II  Cinque 
Maggio  "  were  his  most  distinguished  works,  the  for- 
mer being  without  doubt  the  greatest  Italian  romance 
as  well  as  the  most  beautiful  example  of  popular  mod- 


274         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

ern  Italian  prose,  both  on  account  of  its  simplicity  and 
artistic  dignity. 

Leopardi  in  his  youth  knew  only  fleeting  dreams. 
He  was  a  pessimist,  his  mind  being  devoid  of  faith 
both  in  mankind  and  in  Divine  Providence,  and  thus 
by  an  unhappy  and  reserved  life  he  became  entirely 
engrossed  in  literary  pursuits.  While  he  studied  the 
antique  he  divined,  almost  without  contact  with  the 
outside  world,  the  rich  and  fervid  motives  of  modern 
thought;  and  by  his  own  impulsive  romantic  doctrines 
and  aspirations  he  chose  subjects  which  were  not  such 
as  literary  traditions  teach,  but  what  real  life  brings 
before  one.  Indeed,  he  presents  us  with  life  itself, 
which  makes  us  all  brothers  in  suffering.  "  In  his 
prose  works  he  reasons  out  by  philosophy  the  neces- 
sary unhappiness  of  living  beings ;  in  his  poetry  he 
pours  out  the  cry  of  his  divine  heart,  which  wept  for 
the  misery  of  his  country  and  the  sorrows  of  the 
world."  Day  by  day  he  wrote  the  story  of  his  inde- 
fatigable spirit  in  a  great  and  immortal  volume  called 
his  "  Pensieri." 

Now  no  other  voice  but  that  of  the  literary  world 
remained  to  the  martyred  nation.  The  passion  for  the 
liberty  of  their  country  had  once  more  arisen  in  the 
eager  hearts  of  the  youths,  after  the  first  terror  at 
Italy's  fall  into  slavery  under  Napoleon  had  passed 
away ;  and  among  the  conspirators  there  arose  the  new 
patriotic  literature  which  was  to  educate  the  Italians 
to  revolution  as  a  nation.  The  condemned  and  exiles 
of  1821  gave  to  poetry  a  new  fire  of  youth,  which  broke 
forth  in  the  songs  of  Giovanni  Berchet,  Gabriel  Rosetti 
and  others.  In  1832  Silvio  Pellico  returned  from  ten 
years'  confinement  in  the  prisons  of  Spielberg,  and 
published  "  Le  Mie  Prigioni,"  a  story  of  his  sufferings, 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature  275 

so  powerful  in  its  patient  cadence  that  it  cost  Austria 
more  than  one  lost  battle  and  incited  all  liberal  Europe 
to  pity.  His  moving  tragedy,  "  Francesca  da  Rimini," 
was  full  of  patriotism. 

From  that  time  Italian  literature  was  changed  and 
became  warlike  and  revolutionary.  Foscolo  had  said: 
"  Italians,  I  exhort  you  to  write  history ;  for  no  people 
can  show  more  calamities  to  lament,  more  errors  to 
avoid,  more  bravery  to  arouse  respect,  nor  more  great 
minds  worthy  of  being  liberated  from  oblivion."  The 
classic  writers  responded  to  this  sentiment  by  writing 
eloquent  histories  and  the  romanticists  by  the  his- 
torical romances  and  drama,  which,  by  presenting  in 
an  attractive  form  the  facts  of  Italy's  past,  became 
auxiliary  to  history  proper. 

The  historical  romance  took  a  sentimental  form 
under  Tomaso  Grossi,  an  oratorical  bent  with  Fran- 
cesco Domenico  Guerrazzi,  who  said  that  he  wrote 
books  because  he  could  not  fight  battles,  and  a  dra- 
matic turn  with  Massimo  d'Azeglio,  the  leader  of  the 
Moderate  party.  The  latter  we  have  had  occasion  to 
refer  to  many  times  as  a  Piedmontese  lord  of  great 
nobility  of  character  who  condemned  radical  move- 
ments. The  historical  drama  arose  with  Giovanni 
Battista  Niccolini;  and  literature  was  filled  with  great 
memories  of  the  past.  Thus  the  Italian  youths,  who 
made  up  the  armies  of  Italy  fighting  in  the  wars  for 
independence,  drew  inspiration  from  the  books  which 
they  read.  A  good  example  of  the  satirical  poets  was 
found  in  Giuseppe  Giusti.  He,  with  his  quick  wit, 
aroused  laughter  and  anger  in  turn,  by  rhymes  which 
seemed  jokes  and  which  were  victorious  battles  of 
good  sense  for  the  liberation  of  Italy. 

The  most  powerful  writer  of  the  first  three-quarters 


276         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

of  the  century  was  Giuseppe  Mazzini,  whose  poetic 
prose,  vibrating  with  enthusiasm,  gained  innumerable 
co-operators  of  that  revolution,  brought  about  in  the 
name  of  God  and  the  people,  for  the  unity  of  Italy  and 
republican  liberty. 

Nicolo  Tommaseo,  a  companion  of  Daniele  Manin 
in  the  insurrection  of  Venice,  and  an  exile  with  him, 
produced  many  strong  political,  critical,  and  philologi- 
cal treatises.  Balbo,  the  minister  of  Victor  Emanuel 
I.,  wrote  "  Speranza  di  Italia  "  (Concerning  the  Hopes 
of  Italy).  Manno,  Capponi,  Cantu,  Corrente,  Amari 
Troya  and  Vanucci  also  wrote  historical  works  and 
patriotic  articles. 

In  Florence,  that  quiet  center  of  study,  all  lovers  of 
literature  gathered  together  in  the  club  founded  by 
Gian  Pietro  Viesseux.  Thence  came  the  "Antologia  " 
and  "Archivio  Storico  Italiano "  (The  Historical 
Archives  of  Italy),  the  publication  of  which  works 
opened  up  the  modern  revival  of  historical  study. 

Vincenzo  Gioberti  in  the  revolutionary  period  had 
taken  the  part  of  the  existing  confederation  and  rec- 
ommended conciliation  at  the  same  time  that  Mazzini 
was  instigating  plots  and  uprisings.  The  reality,  how- 
ever, proved  far  different  from  Gioberti's  ideals,  and 
in  1851,  recognizing  his  mistake,  he  publicly  took  his 
stand  in  favor  of  the  revolution ;  accordingly  in  his 
"  Rinnovamento  Civile  d'ltalia  "  (The  Civil  Revival  of 
Italy),  he  urged  a  change  from  ideal  aspirations  to 
the  study  of  the  real  and  more  imminent  practical  mat- 
ters. This  work  turned  the  tide  in  politics  towards 
the  destiny  of  the  nation  under  Victor  Emanuel  and 
Count  Cavour. 

One  by  one  the  old  patriotic  writers  died  or  were 
almost  forgotten,  and  between  1849  and  1859  only 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature  277 

Giovanni  Prati  was  noticeable.  He  brought  forth 
poems  and  splendid  lyrics,  which,  though  gems,  were 
lost  in  the  midst  of  digressions  and  strange  bursts  of 
allegory. 

Ippolito  Nievo  portrayed  in  a  novel  the  life  of 
the  Italians  during  the  transition  period ;  but  the 
promises  of  his  genius  were  cut  off  through  his  acci- 
dental death  by  drowning  while  he  was  returning,  in 
March,  1861,  from  taking  part  in  Garibaldi's  revolu- 
tion in  Sicily,  just  at  the  time  that  the  Kingdom  of 
Italy  was  being  proclaimed  at  Turin. 

The  joyful  climax  was  not  the  signal,  as  might  be 
expected,  for  a  bold  revival  of  literature;  minds  were 
confused  by  the  upheaval  and  there  was  less  and  less 
of  that  intellectual  concord  which  had  governed  the 
writers  of  the  first  half  of  the  century;  and  besides, 
Italy  as  a  nation  had  to  revive  educationally  in  order 
to  come  up  to  modern  standards.  Then  art  took  di- 
vided paths,  either  turning  with  Prati  to  the  imitation 
of  the  classic  style,  or,  with  Aleardo  Aleardi,  giving 
vent  to  romantic  sentiment. 

At  the  proclamation  of  the  Italian  kingdom  roman- 
ticism really  passed  away,  as  in  the  first  half  of  the 
century  classicism  had  given  place  to  the  romantic, 
Goldoni  being  the  first  of  the  former  and  Giordani 
the  last;  and  before  the  third  quarter  of  a  century 
dawned  the  realistic  school  had  superseded  the  ro- 
mantic. 

When  Carducci,  the  leader  of  the  literary  world  be- 
tween 1870  and  1890,  came  upon  the  scene,  he  pro- 
claimed himself  opposed  to  romanticism.  His  style 
was  influenced  by  Alfieri  and  Foscolo,  while  his  poems, 
though  resembling  the  foreign  poetic  masters,  are 
boldly  original  and  cling  to  classic  requirements. 


278         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Although  it  was  many  years  before  his  genius  was 
recognized,  he  dimmed  the  fame  of  all  his  contempora- 
ries and  formed  a  school  of  living  poets  who  have 
adopted  the  severe  purity  of  Greek  and  Roman  metric 
forms.  He  also  writes  valuable  prose  in  the  form  of 
political  and  historical  treatises. 

Rapisardi  stands  alone  as  an  exception  to  this  rule 
and  resembles  Prati  and  Arthur  Graf,  the  latter  a  Ger- 
man romanticist  who  stands  by  himself  in  writing  the 
Italian  language. 

Villari,  the  living  historian,  has  written  fascinatingly 
of  Florentine  life  as  it  existed  in  the  time  of  Savona- 
rola and  Machiavelli,  presenting  those  past  scenes  with 
the  same  vividness  as  experiences  of  to-day.  He  also 
treats  current  topics  ably. 

Besides  several  distinguished  poetesses,  there  are 
many  other  living  writers  of  some  note,  but  we  will 
only  mention  two:  d'Annunzio  and  d'Amicis,  whose 
fame  is  world-wide. 

Gabriele  d'Annunzio,  the  poet  and  novelist,  born  in 
1862,  is  equally  criticised  and  lauded.  He  is  an  imag- 
inative poet  and  expresses  himself  like  a  writer  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  portraying  the  life  of  the  fashion- 
able set.  Although  he  egoistically  works  into  his 
novels  the  turbidness  of  his  soul,  his  fervid  tempera- 
ment and  wealth  of  imagery  develop  something  of  the 
originality  found  in  Goethe  and  later  in  Theophile 
Gautier.  Among  his  latest  works  are  several  dramas 
which  have  attracted  much  attention,  one  of  his  latest 
being  the  tragedy,  "  Francesca  da  Rimini."  D'An- 
nunzio's  poetry  is  greatly  admired  in  Italy,  and  great 
things  are  expected  of  him ;  but  he  is  immoral  in  his 
tendencies. 

Edmondo  d'Amicis,  on  the  other  hand,  exerts  a  de- 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature  279 

cidedly  moral  influence  and  is  the  most  popular  of  liv- 
ing Italian  authors  on  account  of  his  wit  and  the  ver- 
satility of  his  genius.  At  first  he  was  an  officer  in  the 
army ;  and  at  present  he  is  a  great  traveler  as  well  as 
a  novelist,  his  topics  varying  from  reminiscences  of  the 
Italian  wars  to  the  descriptions  of  contemporaneous 
customs  in  far-away  countries.  He  is  a  Socialist  and 
a  great  observer  of  human  character,  painting  vividly 
all  phases  of  social  life.  His  most  popular  work, 
"  Cuore,"  which  has  been  translated  into  all  languages, 
is  a  simple  and  touching  picture  of  school  life  in  Pied- 
mont. Next  to  Manzoni  he  has  given  to  Italy  her  best 
prose,  most  nearly  resembling  the  spoken  language, 
and  of  the  purest  style.  He  stands  alone  in  fame  all 
over  the  world  and  we  may  speak  of  him  as  Marmion 
did  of  his  great  master,  as  a  "captain  without 
soldiers." 

The  works  which  will  live  in  future  generations  are 
"  I  Promessi  Sposi  "  by  Manzoni,  "  II  Canti "  by  Leo- 
pardi,  and  "  La  Divina  Commedia."  The  last,  though 
belonging  to  another  epoch,  was  popularly  appreciated 
only  in  this  century ;  and  it  can  be  said  that  the  Italian 
author  best  known,  most  studied  and  ever  deeply  loved, 
is  Dante  Alighieri. 

The  large  army  of  eminent  living  journalists,  scien- 
tific men,  biographers,  humorists,  etc.,  at  the  present 
time,  too  numerous  to  mention,  furnishes  evidence  of 
intellectual  activity  as  well  as  of  the  strength  of  the 
nation  and  the  vitality  of  the  race. 

The  greatest  name  in  Italian  art  during  the  first 
two  decades  of  the  past  century  was  that  of  Antonio 
Canova.  He  was  called  the  "  Prince  of  Sculptors  and 
Reformer  of  Art  in  Italy."  His  first  efforts  brought 
him  praise;  and  fortune  being  on  his  side,  sovereigns 


280         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

and  Popes  overwhelmed  him  with  decorations  and 
honors. 

Sculpture  continued  to  prosper  under  Alberto  Thor- 
waldsen,  a  Dane  who  came  to  Rome  in  1796,  when 
twenty-six  years  old,  and  remained  there  more  than 
forty  years.  He  sustained  fanatically  the  systems  of 
Winckelmann  and  David,  using  Greek  art  for  his 
model.  Theophile  Gautier  wrote  of  him :  "  He  has 
studied  the  antique  thoroughly  and  has  copied  nature 
with  seeing  eyes,  simplifying  or  eradicating  useless 
details  and  leading  up  to  a  beautiful  ideal." 

The  greatest  sculptor  of  the  last  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  is  Vincenzo  Vela,  who  was  born  in  the 
Swiss  Canton  of  Ticino  and  now  lives  in  Turin.  As 
a  realist  he  has  exercised,  for  half  a  century,  the 
greatest  influence  on  Italian  sculpture. 

Romanticism  has  found  its  warmest  adherents  in  the 
sculptors  Lorenzo  Bartolini  and  Marochetti,  and  in 
the  painter  Hayez,  while  the  artist  Morelli,  who  died 
a  year  or  two  ago  in  Naples,  was  a  more  decided  ro- 
manticist than  any  of  them.  The  brothers  Domenico 
and  Girolamo  Induno  were  realists  in  the  highest  sense, 
making  genre  pictures  their  specialty. 

In  music  Italy  no  doubt  has  led  the  world,  Rossini, 
Bellini,  Donizetti  and  Verdi  being  four  names,  any 
one  of  which  would  have  brought  glory  to  a  nation. 

Rossini  effected  a  revolution  in  music  like  that  of 
Goldoni  in  the  drama,  and  one  can  only  appreciate  what 
force,  what  variety  of  expression  and  what  fullness 
and  richness  of  form  he  added  to  it  by  comparing  him 
with  his  predecessors.  His  fame  can  be  judged  by 
these  lines  from  the  pen  of  an  illustrious  French  critic : 
"  After  the  death  of  Napoleon  there  was  another  man 
who  was  the  subject  of  conversation  each  day  from 


Rossini. 


Verdi. 


M<iscagni. 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature          281 

Moscow  to  Naples,  from  London  to  Vienna,  from 
Paris  to  Calcutta.  This  was  Rossini,  and  his  fame 
knew  no  boundaries  except  those  of  the  civilized 
world." 

Bellini  was  called  the  Petrarch  of  music,  and  he  had 
indeed  the  -energy  and  sweetness  of  the  latter.  He 
understood  how  to  bring  out  the  clangor  of  battle  and 
to  express  the  sigh  of  a  breaking  heart ;  and  he  found 
new  riches  in  the  human  voice  with  which  to  express 
the  most  varied  and  subtle  feelings. 

A  most  powerful  genius  for  versatility  and  profound 
sentiment  was  Donizetti.  He  was  born  to  feel  and  to 
express  in  music  the  emotions  of  his  soul.  At  first  he 
imitated  Rossini,  then  Bellini,  but  finally  he  found  a 
strain  of  his  own  and  stamped  it  ineffaceably  with  his 
individuality. 

The  pride  of  Italy  for  more  than  half  a  century  was 
in  the  fame  of  Verdi.  When  this  veteran  composer 
first  came  before  the  public  all  felt  that  he  was  like 
one  of  those  poets  of  antiquity  who  prophesied  the 
future  of  the  people  and  that  in  his  music  they  had 
heard  the  voice  of  the  Fatherland.  "  Richard  Wag- 
ner was  dominated  by  fancies  of  a  great  far-away  dim 
world  where  ruled  gods  and  demigods,  but  Giuseppe 
Verdi  felt  the  passions  of  the  earth,  the  expression  of 
our  hopes  and  of  our  fears." 

"  In  the  little  peasant's  hut  at  Roncola  he  was  born, 
a  hut  sacred  to  posterity,  where  as  a  child  he  thumped 
away  on  an  old  spinet  acquired  for  him  by  his  father 
with  nobody  knows  how  many  sacrifices.  There,  in  the 
solitude  of  the  hills,  his  genius  awoke,  such  a  genius  as 
Goethe  says  grows  from  silence  and  solitude.  Who 
can  describe  the  emotions  roused  during  the  past  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  by  this  creating  artist?  Who 


282         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

can  say  what  ocean  of  touching  harmony  he  scattered 
through  the  world?  Others  aroused  men  by  barbaric 
violence.  He  did  it  by  a  beneficent  force." 

Giuseppe  Verdi  died  on  the  2/th  of  January,  1901, 
at  Milan,  where  fifty-eight  years  before  they  had  ap- 
plauded the  great  master  in  a  fever  of  delight.  "  He 
is  resting,  resting  after  the  wearisome  labor  of  the  day. 
Just  as  eighteen  years  before,  Richard  Wagner  died 
in  Venice,  in  one  of  those  palaces  on  the  Grand  Canal 
whose  magic  architecture  is  silent  music,  this  other 
giant  of  the  opera  also  closed  his  days  full  of  inspira- 
tion and  glory,  under  the  Italian  sky  which  Alfred 
de  Musset  once  celebrated  as  the  home  of  harmony." 

Aside  from  the  works  of  these  great  masters  only 
two  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  likely  to  survive :  the 
"  Giaconda  "  of  Ponchielli,  and  the  "  Mefistofele  "  of 
Arrigo  Boito,  an  intimate  friend  of  Verdi.  Among 
the  new  lights  which  are  now  appearing  are  Mascagni, 
Puccini,  and  Leoncavallo. 

During  the  course  of  the  century  there  gradually 
developed  among  the  Italians  an  inclination  for  the 
drama ;  and,  besides  the  tragedies  produced  by  the  early 
writers  of  the  century,  comedies  appeared,  "  numerous 
as  the  leaves  in  the  spring  which  disappear  with  the 
first  autumn  wind."  On  the  stage  we  have  few  prose 
dramas  of  world-wide  fame,  though  "  La  Cavalleria 
Rusticana  "  by  Verga,  from  which  Mascagni  took  his 
plot,  and  the  tragedies  of  Gabriele  d'Annunzio  have 
created  lively  discussion  in  Europe  and  America. 
These  have  done  much  to  enrich  the  prose  of  the  stage, 
which  had  greatly  deteriorated  since  the  time  of  its 
founder  Goldoni. 

There  are  scores  of  scientists  worthy  to  be  men- 
tioned, among  them  many  astronomers.  Piazzi 


Military  Expansion  and  Literature          283 

brought  to  light  the  little  planets  between  Mars  and 
Jupiter,  and  Schiaperelli  disclosed  the  canals  on  Mars, 
while  Dunbowski  discovered  the  duplex  and  multiplex 
stars.  Italy,  even  though  not  first  among  European 
nations,  was  ever  second  to  none  in  astronomy;  but 
the  money  to  keep  up  with  the  progressive  inventions 
in  astronomical  instruments  was  lacking  until  after. 
Italy's  consolidation. 

For  twenty  years  a  new  force  has  been  upsetting  the 
old  regime ;  and  electricity,  through  the  genius  of  great 
scientists,  particularly  Italians,  has  accomplished  mar- 
vels. Italy  has  great  hydraulic  forces,  and  electricity 
will  therefore  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  her,  and, 
together  with  the  discovery  of  aluminum,  will  largely 
compensate  for  her  lack  of  iron  and  coal,  and  make  up 
for  her  losses  incurred  by  the  newer  methods  used  in 
manufacture  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

Wireless  telegraphy,  as  invented  and  perfected  by 
Marconi  in  1902 — one  hundred  and  three  years  after 
Volta's  birth,  sixty-three  after  the  invention  of  telegra- 
phy, and  twenty-six  after  the  invention  of  the  tele- 
phone— soon  became  one  of  the  acknowledged  features 
of  science.  Marconi  announced  as  early  as  the  night  of 
the  1 6th  of  December,  1901,  that  he  had  received  in 
Newfoundland  signals  sent  directly  from  England,  a 
distance  of  over  two  thousands  miles. 

On  January  19,  1903,  Marconi  transmitted  from 
Cape  Cod  Station  to  Cornwall,  England,  a  message 
from  Theodore  Roosevelt,  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  King  Edward  VII.  of  England.  His  system 
was  then  in  use,  however,  on  only  seventy  ships  and 
twenty  land  stations ;  while  in  1905  all  the  principal 
ocean  steamers  are  able  to  send  and  receive  messages 
daily  and  hourly.  This  makes  it  possible  to  issue  on 


284         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

shipboard  little  newspapers  recording  the  latest  news 
from  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Marconi  was  born  in  Bologna  in  1874,  and  therefore 
gained  fame  before  he  was  thirty  years  old.  He  has 
shown  great  intelligence  in  his  work,  and  his  triumphs 
are  well  deserved,  although  there  is  much  still  to  dis- 
cover before  the  system  will  compete  with  the  tele- 
graph. Since  his  father  is  an  Italian,  and  his  mother 
is  a  native  of  the  British  Isles,  it  is  no  wonder  that  he 
has  all  the  ardor  of  the  South  and  the  cool-headed 
perseverance  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

There  has  been  great  excitement  in  Italy  concerning 
the  alleged  discoveries  in  respect  to  malaria,  scientific 
experiments  made  between  Battipaglia  and  Paestum 
seeming  to  prove  that  this  disease  is  inoculated  by 
small  insects  of  the  same  genus  as  the  mosquito.  Other 
valuable  developments  are  expected. 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  285 


CHAPTER   XIX 

ASSASSINATION  OF  KING  HUMBERT. — VICTOR  EMANUEL 

III. DEATH  OF  CRISPI. — BIRTH  OF  PRINCESS  IOLANDE. 

BIRTH  OF  HUMBERT,  PRINCE  OF  PIEDMONT. 

1900—1905     A.    D. 

ON  July  29,  1900,  the  Italian  people  were  para- 
lyzed by  the  news  of  the  assassination  of  King 
Humbert  I.  With  his  aide-de-camp,  the  king  was  re- 
turning from  a  distribution  of  prizes  at  Monza,  near 
Milan,  and  was  just  entering  his  carriage  when  three 
revolver  shots  hit  him  in  quick  succession,  one  piercing 
his  heart.  He  had  only  time  to  exclaim :  "  It  is  noth- 
ing "  (£  niente),  and,  sinking  immediately  into  uncon- 
sciousness, he  expired  a  short  time  after.  The  assassin 
was  Angelo  Bresci,  a  native  of  Prato  in  Tuscany,  but 
lately  from  the  noted  society  of  anarchists  in  Pater- 
son,  New  Jersey,  whose  motto  is :  "  Death  to  Rulers." 

The  queen,  Margherita,  was  out  driving;  and  when 
on  her  return  to  the  Palace  the  truth  that  the  king 
could  not  survive  was  made  known  to  her,  she  burst 
into  tears,  exclaiming :  "  It  is  the  greatest  crime  of  the 
century.  Humbert  was  good  and  faithful  to  his  people, 
and  bore  no  ill-will  to  anyone." 

The  Prince  and  Princess  of  Naples  were  absent  on 
a  pleasure  excursion  in  the  Levant,  and  were  on  the 
high  seas  on  board  their  yacht  when  the  news  reached 
them.  Crispi  met  the  sorrowful  young  couple  with 
dispatches  on  their  arrival  at  Naples  in  the  middle  of 


286         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

the  night;  and  the  following  day  they  proceeded  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  Milan  and  thence  to  Monza, 
where  they  were  welcomed  by  the  sorrowing  Queen 
Margherita. 

King  Humbert  was  fifty-six  years  old  when  he  died. 
His  naturally  austere,  though  kind  face,  aged  before 
its  time,  was  beaming  with  pride  and  happiness  that 
very  day  as  he  watched  the  gay  contests  of  strength. 

A  first  attack  aiming  to  take  the  king's  life  was  made 
at  Naples  by  Passanante,  a  wretched  scullery  boy,  when 
the  king  and  queen  were  making  their  presentation 
journey  through  Italy  before  they  came  to  the  throne. 
In  1897  the  scoundrel  Ascianto,  an  Italian  anarchist, 
made  a  second  attempt  while  the  king  was  driving  one 
day  on  the  Corso.  Humbert  was  a  fatalist,  however, 
and  took  no  precaution  to  protect  his  life,  and  was  even 
lenient  towards  the  anarchists.  His  friends  urged  him 
to  guard  himself  from  madmen  and  fanatics,  but  after 
the  attempt  in  Rome  he  said :  "  These  are  the  uncer- 
tainties of  my  position ; "  and  he  often  remarked  at 
Monza  that  he  was  destined  to  die  like  Alexander  of 
Russia.  He  was  much  annoyed  when  the  Carbinieri 
tried  to  protect  him,  and  "  scorned  a  coat  of  mail  over 
the  breast  he  had  exposed  so  bravely  against  the  bullets 
of  the  Austrians  at  Custoza." 

The  principal  organ  of  the  Italian  press  wrote  the 
following  day :  "  It  is  a  solace  in  such  painful  circum- 
stances to  note  the  love  of  the  whole  people  for  their 
martyred  sovereign,  and  to  see  the  government  pass 
from  the  dead  ruler's  hand  with  such  tranquillity.  Even 
those  cities  which  seemed  the  least  devoted  to  the  State 
have  manifested  in  a  touching  manner  sorrow  at  the 
great  loss.  This  terrible  blow  unites  more  closely  all 
hearts.  It  centers  all  Italians  around  the  White  Cross 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  287 

of  Savoy."  All  felt  the  deepest  sympathy  also  for  their 
revered  queen,  and  the  same  journal  issued  in  its 
columns  the  following  apostrophe  to  her :  "  Farewell, 
beloved  Queen !  Thou  hast  passed  into  that  retirement 
welcome  to  the  sorrowing.  In  thy  grief  thy  people 
weep  with  thee,  thou  great  and  beloved  woman,  who 
didst  ever  act  for  the  interests  of  Italy  and  the  Italian 
people,  and  the  House  of  Savoy,  as  thy  heroic  ances- 
tors did  before  thee.  Thou  wert  Beauty  and  Grace 
and  the  poetry  of  our  youthful  lives.  Thou  wert  the 
worthy  daughter  of  the  '  Great  King '  as  well  as  the 
courtly  spouse  of  Humbert  the  Magnanimous ;  and  in 
heartfelt  grief  we  bring  this  farewell." 

The  funeral  services  over  King  Humbert's  remains 
were  celebrated  even  in  the  smallest  villages  by  both 
the  clergy  and  people;  for,  as  Foscolo  once  said, 
"  Death  is  a  just  dealer  of  honors."  Although  it  had 
been  Humbert's  request  to  be  buried  in  the  Superga,  the 
royal  cemetery  of  the  Savoyan  kings,  the  Pantheon, 
that  Roman  temple  consecrated  to  all  the  gods,  now 
dedicated  to  all  the  kings  of  Italy,  "  received  under  its 
mighty  cupola,  as  if  beneath  a  sphere  of  glory,  the 
second  King  of  Italy  by  the  side  of  the  first,  the  Great 
King,  the  liberator  of  his  country." 

It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  more  rigorously  con- 
stitutional king  than  Humbert  I.,  the  formula  of 
modern  constitutions,  "  the  king  reigns  but  does  not 
govern,"  being  engraved  upon  his  heart.  He  was  in- 
capable of  breaking  an  oath ;  and  no  constitutional 
sovereign  of  monarchical  Europe,  excepting  England, 
exercised  the  regal  power  with  such  exactness  as  he 
did. 

When  King  Humbert  first  ascended  the  throne  he 
was  called  the  "  hermetically  sealed  man  " ;  but  after- 


288         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

wards  he  showed  so  much  sympathy  with  his  people 
in  all  their  misfortunes  that  he  was  known  by  them  as 
the  "  .comforting  king."  A  few  years  after  his  ac- 
cession there  was  an  earthquake  at  Ischia,  where  he 
consoled  the  sufferers;  and  when  an  epidemic  of 
cholera  broke  out  in  1884,  there  were  gayeties  going  on 
at  Pordenone  in  which  Humbert  was  about  to  join. 
Without  hesitation,  however,  he  said  to  his  minister, 
Depretis :  "  They  are  making  merry  at  Pordenone,  at 
Naples  they  are  dying.  I  am  going  to  Naples."  These 
words  (a  Pordenone  si  fa  festa,  a  Napoli  si  muo,  lo 
vado  a  Napoli)  were  written  as  an  inscription  on  a 
monument  erected  in  Naples  in  commemoration  of 
this  visit.  At  the  time  of  this  cholera  panic,  when  all 
were  paralyzed  with  fear  and  almost  everybody  de- 
serted the  afflicted,  the  king's  sympathetic  conduct  in 
mingling  so  freely  with  and  giving  consolation  to  the 
patients,  especially  at  Busca  and  Naples,  attracted  the 
notice  of  the  world. 

A  picture  by  Nero  Carnivale,  representing  King 
Humbert  before  the  Hospice  of  Conocchi  grasping  the 
hand  of  a  poor  cholera-stricken  lad,  was  presented  to 
Queen  Margherita  in  1888  by  the  city  of  Naples. 

The  king  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  his  people  as 
his  Italian  family,  and,  in  order  to  serve  them  better  he 
sacrificed  his  love  for  his  country  home  at  Monza  and 
his  rural  sports,  and  carried  on  the  duties  of  his  office 
with  punctilious  exactness  at  Rome  from  November 
until  late  spring.  The  queen  proved  herself  his  noble 
companion  in  all  their  duties,  being  found  wherever 
any  good  deed  could  be  accomplished,  and  leading  in 
all  charitable  and  educational  movements. 

King  Humbert  tried  to  relieve  the  bad  conditions  of 
the  laboring  class  by  putting  into  execution  the  pro- 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  289 

gressive  movements  of  the  day.  After  the  swamps  in 
the  delta  of  the  Tiber  were  drained,  and  some  of  the 
workmen  desired  to  occupy  this  drier  locality  as 
farmers,  the  king  did  all  he  could  to  help  along  the 
agricultural  colony  composing  it,  interesting  himself 
in  all  the  circumstances  of  their  lives.  These  good 
Romagnola  people,  who  have  prospered  ever  since, 
speak  of  him  with  great  pride  and  gratitude  as  their 
friend  and  benefactor.  Notwithstanding  all  his  efforts 
as  a  representative  of  a  government  which  for  years 
had  kept  the  masses  in  poverty  and  ignorance,  King 
Humbert  was  often  blamed  for  the  insufficient  prog- 
ress with  regard  to  the  low  social  conditions;  for 
since  the  landed  property  is  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
few,  to  the  detriment  of  the  many,  the  little  plot  of 
ground  which  every  poor  man  covets  for  a  home  is  not 
often  a  reality  in  Italy;  and  this  is  the  reason  of  the 
great  emigration  annually.  In  addition  to  these  griev- 
ances, the  taxes  to  support  royalty  and  to  sustain  the 
army  are  so  exorbitant,  that  the  question  of  ameliora- 
tion drives  the  patriots  to  despair  and  the  fanatics  to 
socialism  and  anarchy. 

After  the  funeral  obsequies  the  queen  retired  to 
Turin.  It  was  finally  decided,  however,  by  the  court, 
that  since  in  history  Margherita  will  always  be  the  first 
Queen  of  Italy,  in  the  hearts  of  the  Italians  the  mother 
of  the  people,  and  in  the  thoughts  of  the  Vatican  a 
symbol  of  piety  and  religion,  it  was  best  for  her  to  take 
up  her  residence  in  Rome. 

After  much  discussion  the  Palace  Piombino,  a  splen- 
did modern  building  well  adapted  for  a  court,  was 
purchased  and  fitted  up  for  her  use;  and  during  the 
Christmas  season  of  1900  she  was  welcomed  back  by 
a  great  ovation  from  the  people  and  cordial  demon- 


290         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

stration  from  the  sorrowing  court.  Although  a  fierce 
storm  raged,  the  streets  and  balconies  from  the  station 
to  the  Piombino  Palace  were  decorated  with  flags  and 
crowded  with  the  populace.  When  Queen  Margherita 
appeared  on  the  balcony  with  her  son  and  Queen 
Helene,  to  salute  the  people,  they  were  answered  with 
the  cry  of  "  Viva  il  Re !  Viva  Savoia !  "  meant  to  be 
a  greeting  to  the  new  king  as  well  as  to  the  sorrowing 
queen  returning  home  to  her  people. 

The  Prince  of  Naples  succeeded  his  father  as  Victor 
Emanuel  III.  The  young  king  was  born  the  nth  of 
November,  1869,  and  for  many  years  held  his  court 
in  the  Imperial  Palace  at  Naples,  while  he  at  the  same 
time  kept  up  apartments  in  the  resident  portion  of  the 
Pitti  Palace  in  Florence.  He  was  called  Victor  Eman- 
uel from  his  paternal  grandfather,  Gennaro  from  the 
Protector  of  Naples,  and  Ferdinand  after  his  maternal 
grandfather,  the  brave  Duke  of  (knoa.  In  honor  of 
the  city  where  he  first  saw  the  light,  and  as  an  ex- 
ponent of  Italian  unity,  he  received  the  title  of  Prince 
of  Naples. 

The  first  teacher  of  the  Prince  of  Naples  was  his 
mother,  and  his  tutor  was  Colonel  Egidio  Ossio,  who 
also  taught  him  military  tactics.  He  learned  the  modern 
languages  from  other  instructors,  and  is  able,  at  the 
present  time,  to  speak  French,  German  and  English 
fluently.  Although  the  young  prince  was  humored  by 
his  father  and  grandfather,  Queen  Margherita  brought 
him  up  under  strict  regime.  From  the  age  of  ten 
Prince  Victor  was  made  to  rise  at  daybreak,  and  after 
a  cold  bath  and  a  cup  of  broth  he  commenced  his  tasks. 
If  he  lingered  in  bed  he  was  deprived  of  his  bouillon 
until  after  his  first  lesson.  His  morning  instruction 
being  compkted,  he  rode  for  an  hour  in  all  kinds  of 


VICTOR  EMANKUX.  III. 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  291 

weather.  In  fact  the  whole  day  was  spent  in  study  and 
exercise.  Being  an  only  child  and  without  compan- 
ions, he  was  rather  a  lonely  little  fellow ;  and  for  enter- 
tainment he  used  to  drive  with  his  English  governess 
in  the  Borghese  Park  and  on  Mount  Pincio,  where  he 
would  wave  his  tiny  hand  in  answer  to  the  greetings 
of  the  multitude.  Another  amusement  was  building 
fortifications  in  the  Quirinal  grounds,  and  collecting 
medals,  shells  and  flowers ;  and  he  also  took  great 
pleasure  in  amateur  photography. 

His  Majesty's  military  education  was  as  near  perfect 
as  possible,  he  having  been  drilled  in  all  the  grades 
from  corporal  to  colonel;  and,  although  he  has  never 
experienced  war,  he  has  on  several  occasions  exhibited 
great  physical  courage. 

On  the  24th  of  October,  1896,  Victor  Emanuel  III. 
married  the  Princess  Helene,  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Montenegro.  She  was  a  fair,  pale-faced  princess  with 
a  melancholy  and  Oriental  beauty,  and  was  born  at 
Cettinge,  Montenegro,  on  the  8th  of  January,  1873.  It 
was  a  love-match,  the  couple  having  met  the  summer 
before  at  Venice,  at  the  Exposition  of  Fine  Arts.  Be- 
fore the  marriage  the  princess  transferred  her  member- 
ship from  the  Greek  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
this  ceremony  taking  place  at  the  Basilica  Palatina  at 
Bari.  The  young  people  lived  at  Naples  until  King 
Humbert's  death. 

The  substantial  qualities  and  wonderful  culture  of 
Victor  Emanuel  III.  are  very  marked;  and  he  has 
already  distinguished  himself  as  an  able  diplomatist. 
Until  recently  he  has  been  considered  somewhat  ex- 
clusive; but  travel  and  experience  in  the  world  have 
made  him  more  frank  and  free  than  in  his  youth.  He 
is  a  friend  of  all  scientists  and  literary  men  and  is 


292          Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

much  interested  in  everything  that  pertains  to  elec- 
tricity, being  one  of  the  first  experimenters  with  the 
X-rays.  His  knowledge  of  geography  and  history 
is  so  extensive  that  when  journeying  in  South  Africa 
he  acted  as  an  encyclopedia  for  his  whole  retinue.  An 
anecdote  is  told  of  how,  when  examined  in  history, 
in  the  presence  of  the  king  and  queen  and  eminent 
professors,  he  selected  for  his  theme  the  revolutionary 
movement  of  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  amusing  all  by  his  frankness  in  dealing  with 
the  virtues  and  defects  of  his  ancestors,  his  great- 
grandfather, Charles  Albert  and  others.  Nothing  de- 
lighted him  so  much  for  a  present  when  a  small  boy 
as  an  old  out-of-date  coin ;  and  he  now  has  in  his  col- 
lection eighteen  thousand;  yet  this  is  a  thousand  less 
in  variety  than  were  turned  out  of  the  mint  at  the 
time  the  kingdom  was  divided  into  so  many  petty 
sovereignties. 

The  king  has  already  shown  himself  worthy  of  the 
office  to  which  he  has  been  called,  and  ever  sees  clearly 
the  duty  which  first  lies  before  him.  From  Monza  he 
delivered  a  proclamation  exhibiting  a  sorrowing  soul, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  spirit  of  one  who  refuses  to 
be  cast  down.  He  said :  "  I  wish  to  express  how  sure 
I  feel  that  the  institutions  sacred  to  me,  on  account  of 
the  traditions  of  our  house,  and  on  account  of  the  fer- 
vent love  of  Italy  for  them,  will  secure  the  prosperity 
and  greatness  of  our  country."  In  his  own  handwriting 
were  added  these  words :  "  My  God  so  help  me,  and 
the  love  of  my  people  so  comfort  me,  that  I  may  be 
able  to  consecrate  all  my  powers  as  king  to  the  pro- 
tection of  liberty  and  the  monarchy  and  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  country." 

In  December,  after  the  burial  of  King  Humbert  in 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  293 

August,  notwithstanding  that  his  tomb  had  always  been 
guarded,  it  was  robbed  of  the  Iron  Crown  and  Collar 
of  the  Annunziata  and  other  supposed  valuables;  but 
people  forgot  what  a  sacrilege  it  was,  in  their  amuse- 
ment at  the  thought  of  how  the  thieves  had  been 
cheated — for  the  jewels  were  paste. 

On  the  first  anniversary  of  the  king's  death,  July 
29,  1901,  numerous  processions  went  to  the  Pan- 
theon to  do  honor  to  his  memory.  Of  all  the  wreaths 
sent,  only  one  was  placed  on  his  tomb,  bearing  the 
simple  words :  "  From  Margherita,  Victor  and  Helene." 
The  ceremonials  are  so  much  like  those  formerly 
held  on  the  anniversary  of  Victor  Emanuel  II.'s  death 
that  the  observance  of  the  two  has  been  from  that 
time  united  on  the  29th  of  July.  In  other  cities,  also, 
proper  notice  of  the  day  was  taken.  At  Monza  on 
this  anniversary  the  cornerstone  of  a  chapel,  erected 
to  the  memory  of  King  Humbert,  was  laid  on  the 
spot  where  he  fell. 

The  first  little  Italian  princess  was  born  on  the  1st 
of  June,  1901,  her  name  being  lolanda  Margherita 
Romana  Milena  Maria.  It  seems  hardly  possible  that 
a  prince  could  at  that  time  have  been  more  enthusias- 
tically greeted  by  the  queen  and  the  people.  The  king 
sagely  remarked :  "  Of  course  I  should  have  been 
pleased  had  it  been  a  prince,  but  as  it  is,  I  am  extremely 
happy."  On  the  joyful  occasion  of  lolanda's  birth 
a  little  cradle  and  baby's  simple  outfit  were  distributed 
to  all  children  born  in  Italy  on  the  same  day,  Queen 
Helene  herself  having  superintended  the  work.  With 
the  layette  one  hundred  liras  were  given  to  every  poor 
baby.  A  procession  of  children  carried  flowers  and 
greetings  to  the  Quirinal.  Victor  Emanuel  remem- 
bered especially  the  poor  and  unfortunate,  and  declared 


294         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

an  amnesty  in  favor  of  offenders  of  the  press  and 
duelists.  In  due  time  the  baby  was  baptized  in  the 
ballroom  of  the  Quirinal,  in  the  presence  of  the  court. 
Public  attention  was  centered  in  this  tiny  bit  of  royalty 
at  a  very  early  period  of  her  existence,  even  Menelik 
sending  four  elephants'  tusks,  of  unusual  size  and 
beauty,  from  far  away  South  Africa,  to  serve  as  sup- 
ports for  the  royal  cradle. 

In  September,  1901,  Victor  Emanuel  III.  and  Queen 
Helene  left  lolande  in  the  care  of  her  nurse  and  maids 
at  Raconigi,  one  of  their  country  seats,  the  old  castle 
of  Charles  Albert,  forty  miles  from  Turin,  and  set  out 
on  their  presentation  journey  among  the  different 
cities  of  Italy.  Throughout  the  tour  the  character  of 
the  queen  appeared  in  a  most  charming  light  and  that 
of  the  king  strong  and  sturdy. 

At  Milan  the  king  visited  his  old  tutor,  General 
Ossio,  whom  he  had  just  made  a  count  and  who  then 
lay  dying;  and  together  the  sovereigns  sought  out 
Verdi's  grave.  Particular  attention  was  paid  by  His 
Majesty  to  the  electrical  plant  at  Vizzola,  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  world.  To  furnish  hydraulic  force  for 
the  almost  universal  use  of  electricity  in  Italy  much 
of  the  water  supply  formerly  used  in  irrigation  is  now 
turned  into  water-falls,  "  White  Coal,"  as  they  are 
called.  It  is  estimated  that  this  supply  affords  a  po- 
tency of  about  five  million  horsepower. 

The  enthusiasm  and  spontaneity  of  the  greetings  ex- 
tended to  the  sovereigns  in  1901  in  the  metropolis, 
where  three  years  before  it  was  necessary  to  raise  barri- 
cades, was  an  event  of  real  importance. 

Nothing  could  be  more  solemn  than  the  struggle  of 
Francesco  Crispi  against  death.  His  nature  was  like 
that  of  the  tough  oaks  of  Albania,  whence  his  ancestors 


QUEEN  HELENE. 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  295 

came  to  Sicily;  and  his  life  was  a  tenacious  struggle 
to  the  last.  On  this  account  he  had  both  friends  and 
bitter  enemies ;  but  finally  all  conceded  that  first  of  all 
a  great  man  had  died,  perhaps  the  last  great  Italian 
of  the  classic  period  of  Italy's  regeneration.  "  History 
must  often  speak  of  him,  and  although  she  will  be 
obliged  to  connect  his  name  with  the  sad ,  fame  of 
Adowa,  she  will  say  that  he  loved  Italy  most  passion- 
ately, that  he  longed  to  see  her  great  and  among  the 
mightiest  of  the  earth."  When  Alexander  Fortis  went 
to  Naples  to  see  the  famous  old  man  then  battling  with 
death,  he  exclaimed :  "  Thou  art  still  a  giant  and  we 
are  but  pygmies."  This  exclamation  expressed  the 
general  impression  produced  in  Italy  and  all  over  the 
world  by  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Naples  on  the 
nth  of  August,  1901. 

After  incessant  activity  in  the  government,  Crispi 
had  retired  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  heart-broken 
from  personal  abuse  and  party  strife.  Although  his 
last  years  were  far  from  joyful,  he  died  serenely  con- 
fident that  justice  would  be  accorded  him  by  history. 
It  might  be  said  of  Crispi  as  Carducci  said  of  Gari- 
baldi, that  above  all  he  was  an  Italian  and  a  man  of 
liberty,  a  republican  by  birth  and  education. 

The  second  little  Princess  was  born  on  November 
19,  1902.  Her  full  name  is  Mafalda  Maria  Eliza- 
beth Anna  Romana.  The  king  distributed  three  hun- 
dred thousand  liras  in  presents  for  hospitals  and  other 
charities  on  this  occasion. 

There  was  the  greatest  rejoicing,  when,  on  Septem- 
ber 15,  1904,  a  young  prince  was  born.  This  event 
was  much  more  than  a  domestic  felicity,  since  through 
it  the  continuance  of  power  in  the  House  of  Savoy 
was  assured.  The  royal  heir  was  named  Humbert, 


296         Italy:   Her  People  and  Their  Story 

and  after  much  thought,  in  order  to  heal  the  breach 
between  the  Quirinal  and  Vatican,  and  silence  party 
strife  in  many  directions,  he  received  the  title  of  Prince 
of  Piedmont,  rather  than  that  of  Prince  of  Rome,  as 
was  at  first  discussed.  To  celebrate  the  birth  of  the 
princely  baby  the  king  granted  amnesty  to  all  de- 
serters, and,  besides  this,  shortened  the  term  of  many 
prisoners. 

The  delay  of  a  prince  has  not  been  unprecedented 
in  Italian  history.  Victor  Amadeus,  the  first  king  of 
the  House  of  Savoy,  waited  fourteen  years  for  an  heir, 
during  which  time  there  had  been  four  princesses.  But 
in  the  destiny  of  royal  families  and  the  politics  of 
nations,  princesses  also  have  a  place,  and  the  women  of 
Savoy  have  always  proved  worthy  of  the  dynasty. 

The  sovereigns  lead  a  very  secluded  life  in  their  own 
apartments  in  the  Quirinal,  which  on  account  of  their 
simplicity  many  a  Milanese  citizen  would  not  tolerate. 
Even  the  ladies-in-waiting  seldom  penetrate  as  far  as 
Queen  Helene's  rooms,  and  the  royal  couple  dine  alone 
without  a  court. 

Among  many  modern  improvements  now  constantly 
going  on  in  Rome,  a  tunnel  under  the  Quirinal  was 
completed  October  26,  1902.  The  appearance  of  the 
Quirinal  Hill  is  unchanged ;  but  the  citizens  of  Rome 
are  saved  much  time  and  strength  by  this  short  cut 
between  the  Via  Nazionale  and  the  Piazza  di  Spagna. 

An  electric  road  is  a  thing  in  anticipation  from 
Rome  to  Naples  through  the  Pontine  Marshes.  This 
route  will  require  only  three  hours  instead  of  five,  as 
formerly.  It  is  almost  identical  with  the  ancient  high- 
way of  the  time  of  Horace  and  Maecenas. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  sad  to  notice  that  here  and 
there  all  over  the  peninsula  old  familiar  landmarks  are 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  297 

going  to  decay.  Venice  on  account  of  her  substructure 
is  particularly  susceptible  to  such  changes.  It  is  said 
that  the  old  Doges'  Palace  is  crumbling,  while  her 
splendid  Campanile,  founded  in  888  A.D.,  succumbed  to 
the  ravages  of  time  and  fell  on  the  I4th  of  July,  1902, 
greatly  marring  the  historic  and  beautiful  St.  Mark's 
Square.  A  new  structure,  which  will  be  an  exact  copy 
of  the  old  Campanile,  was  begun  in  1903  and  will  soon 
rise  on  the  same  spot. 

During  the  excavations,  in  1903,  some  tombs  were 
discovered  under  the  Roman  Forum  between  the 
Temple  of  Romulus  and  that  of  Antoninus  and  Faus- 
tina, indicating  that  a  cemetery,  over  which  the  Romans 
built  their  temples,  formerly  existed  beneath  the  level 
of  the  Via  Sacra.  This  is  supposed  to  be  a  burial  place 
of  the  ancient  Latins,  antedating  Romulus'  and  Remus' 
time.  It  is  thought  that  the  excavations  still  going  on 
in  1905  will  throw  new  light  on  the  legendary  period, 
confirming  traditions  which  have  been  too  readily  cast 
aside. 

The  completion  of  the  work  of  piercing  the  Simplon 
Tunnel  which  connects  Italy  with  Switzerland  was 
signaled  on  February  25,  1905,  by  the  ringing  of 
church  bells  and  firing  of  cannon.  This  tunnel  is 
twelve  miles  long  and  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  engineering  achievements  of  the  age.  Im- 
mense difficulties  were  encountered  during  the  process, 
hot  springs  sometimes  raising  the  temperature  to  131° 
Fahrenheit;  and  shifting  material  often  blocked  the 
way.  This  vast  enterprise  has  been  under  way  for 
nearly  ten  years.  It  was  opened  regularly  to  traffic 
April  2,  amid  the  cries  of  "  Long  live  Switzerland ! 
Long  live  Italy !  " 

Giuseppi  Zanardelli,  several  times  president  of  the 


298         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Chamber  of  Deputies,  died  at  Maderno  near  Brescia, 
on  December  26,  1903,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven. 
He  had  held  the  office  of  premier  without  interruption 
since  1901.  In  April,  1903,  he  became  seriously  ill, 
but  in  June  was  able  to  reconstruct  the  cabinet.  In 
the  following  August  his  illness  assumed  such  propor- 
tions that  his  physicians  counseled  complete  rest;  but 
he  continued  as  head  of  the  ministry  until  the  2Oth  of 
October,  1903,  when  he  resigned,  and  Giolitte,  first 
made  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  at  the 
time  of  the  Abyssinian  War,  and  a  close  adherent  of 
the  Zanardelli  policy,  was  charged  with  forming  a  new 
ministry.  He  assumed  the  office  of  premier  on  No- 
vember 3,  1903. 

The  King  and  Queen  of  Italy's  visit  to  Paris  the 
middle  of  October,  1903,  together  with  their  journey 
to  England  a  month  later,  was  considered  an  event  of 
marked  political  significance,  many  thinking  that  it  was 
about  to  modify  the  long-established  Triple  Alliance, 
while  others  prophesied  that  the  drawing  together  of 
these  nations  would  result  in  the  unity  of  all  the  great 
powers  on  a  firmer  foundation  of  peace. 

The  first  friendly  demonstrations  on  the  part  of 
France,  after  the  coolness  existing  so  long,  was  in  1899, 
when  the  French  squadron  visited  King  Humbert  in 
Sardinian  waters.  The  Festival  at  Toulon  in  April, 
1901,  was  the  counterpart  of  the  courtesies  exchanged 
at  Calieri  in  1899.  On  the  occasion  of  the  fetes  at 
Toulon  King  Victor  Emanuel  III.  sent  President 
Loubet,  who  was  himself  present,  an  autograph  letter, 
together  with  the  Collar  of  the  Annunziata,  which  in 
itself  is  an  undeniable  seal  of  intimacy  and  always  con- 
sidered a  talisman  against  antagonisms  resulting  in 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  299 

Great  preparations  were  made  in  Paris  for  the  royal 
visit  of  1903.  Two  lines  of  militia  were  posted  along 
the  entire  route  of  the  procession,  stretching  from 
the  station  along  the  flag-bedecked  Avenue  Bois  de 
Boulogne,  through  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  and  Champs 
Elysees  to  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  where  the  batter- 
ies thundered  an  official  welcome.  The  entire  week 
was  spent  in  fetes  and  festivals  in  honor  of  the  king 
and  queen ;  and  the  entente  cordiale  established  by  their 
visit  was  most  satisfactory.  The  king  on  leaving  gave 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  poor  of  Paris  and  six 
thousand  especially  for  needy  Italians. 

The  reception  and  entertainment  of  the  Italian 
sovereigns  in  England  was  no  less  hearty,  as  the  deaf- 
ening salutes  from  the  warships  indicated,  when  their 
yacht  steamed  out  of  Portsmouth  for  Cherbourg  on 
their  departure  for  Italy,  the  2ist  of  November,  the 
tumultuous  expressions  of  regard  denoting  that  these 
nations  were  in  great  accord.  The  queens  embraced 
each  other  affectionately  on  parting  at  Windsor,  while 
the  kings  clasped  hands  with  fervor  in  token  of  lasting 
friendship. 

The  warmth  of  these  demonstrations  re-echo  the 
sentiment  of  the  proclamation  which  was  issued  in 
Milan  two  years  before  at  the  time  of  the  first  royal 
visit  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Italy  throughout  their 
own  land.  "  Milan  on  this  solemn  occasion  extends 
to  the  head  of  the  State  and  to  her  gracious  queen  re- 
spectful homage.  The  king,  who  finds  it  a  pleasure 
as  well  as  a  duty  to  study  the  social  questions  of  the 
day,  will  feel  encouraged  by  the  vigorous  development 
of  our  strong,  flourishing  economic  life,  the  fruit  of 
the  indefatigable  activity  on  the  part  of  the  citizens. 
We  have  an  indestructible  faith  in  the  destiny  of  the 


300         Italy:  Her  People  and  Their  Story 

Fatherland,  wrought  out  by  the  bravery  of  her  sons, 
and  we  feel  that  Italy,  by  developing  all  her  latent 
forces,  will  gain  that  glorious  position  which  is  sure 
finally  to  distinguish  her  among  the  nations." 

The  feeling  exhibited  in  this  document,  which  dem- 
onstrated both  the  fidelity  of  the  nation  to  the  king 
and  their  enduring  faith  in  the  institutions  of  the 
State,  found  a  manifest  response  in  the  festivities  of 
Paris  and  London. 

The  popularity  of  these  youthful  sovereigns  was  no 
doubt  intensified  by  the  wisdom  of  the  king  and  the 
dignity  of  Queen  Helene,  developed  by  the  tragedy  at 
Monza.  The  discretion  evinced  by  both  from  the  time 
of  that  overwhelming  calamity  made  a  great  impres- 
sion not  only  on  their  own  people,  but  on  foreign  na- 
tions all  over  the  world. 

His  great  kindness  of  heart  and  real  loyalty  to  his 
subjects  was  shown  by  King  Victor  Emanuel  III.  at 
the  time  of  the  great  earthquake  in  Sicily  and  on  the 
adjacent  coast  during  the  last  days  of  December,  1908, 
when  several  hundred  thousand  people  lost  their  lives 
and  thousands  were  left  crazed,  homeless,  and  desti- 
tute. The  king  and  queen  encountered  at  this  time 
every  peril  and  endured  great  hardship  in  order  to  be 
with  and  comfort  their  distressed  people. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  great  capital  of  Italy  at 
its  origin  was  thus  named  because  the  word  "  Roma  " 
signified  strength ;  but  what  spirit  of  augury  found  in 
prophets'  or  soothsayers'  breasts  could  have  foretold 
an  endurance  like  that  of  the  Eternal  City!  She  sits 
as  of  old  on  her  Seven  Hills;  and,  though  she  no 
longer  from  her  "  throne  of  beauty  "  rules  the  world, 
still  the  little  hamlet  Romulus  first  espied  from  his  tiny 


Italy  at  the  Present  Day  301 

cradle-bark  never  gave  up  its  ground.  Tough  as  the 
gnarled  oak  and  strong  as  iron  sinews,  when  con- 
quered she  rose  again  in  renewed  magnificence.  Rome 
then  was  Italy,  the  Hesperia  of  ancient  days.  For 
many  centuries,  however,  Italy  has  swallowed  up 
Rome;  and  in  doing  this  she  has  kept  within  herself 
all  the  buoyancy  of  her  gay  capital.  Thus,  in  view  of 
her  elasticity,  spirit  of  emulation  and  great  fortitude, 
it  is  easy  for  any  modern  seer  to  predict  that  before 
many  centuries  shall  have  passed  the  "  Land  of  Art 
and  Song  "  will  again  become  a  gigantic  force  in  the 
world ;  for  enlightenment  and  freedom  and,  above 
all,  education,  added  to  instinctive  culture,  are  sure  to 
reanimate  her  flickering  embers  and  make  of  Italy  a 
nation  fit  to  lead  the  world. 


INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Lord,  198 
Abruzzi,  Duke  of,  251;  trip 

to  North  Pole,  252 
Abyssinian  War,  265 
Achaia,  Prince  of,  269 
Adelaide,   wife    of    Humbert 

of  the  White  Hand,  131 
Adelaide,     wife     of     Victor 

Emanuel    II.,    190;     death, 

197 
Adigrat,    268;     prisoners    at, 

269 

Adorno,   Antonio,   114;    suc- 
ceeds    Ottaviano    Fregoso, 
117;    removed  from  Genoa 
by  French,  121 
Adowah,  Battle  of,  268 
yEneas    Sylvius     (see    Pope 

Pius  II.),  84 
Age  of  the  Despots,  24 
Age  of  Invasion,  94 
Agordat,     defeat     of     Der- 
vishes at,  268 

Aistolphus,  Lombard  king,  7 
Aix   La   Chapelle,    Peace   of, 

141 
Alberich  of  Spoleto,  husband 

of  Marozia,  13 
Alberich,   Marozia's   son,   13 
Alberico  da  Barbiano,  61 
Alberoni,  Cardinal,  169 
Albertone,  General,  269 
Albigenses,  127 


Albizzi,  79;  Rinaldo,  81; 
overcome  by  Medici,  82 

Alboin,  6 

Albornoz,  Cardinal,  67 

Alcazar,  Francis  I.,  impris- 
oned at,  119 

Aleardi,  Aleardo,  277 

Alessandria,  27 

Alexander  III.,  Pope,  27 

Alexander  IV.,  Pope,  35; 
death,  37 

Alexander  V.,  Pope,  76 

Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  Rod- 
rigo  Borgia,  94;  excom- 
municates Savonarola,  97; 
admits  Charles  VIII.,  101; 
death,  105 

Alexander,  Clement  VII.'s 
nephew,  122 

Alfieri,  Vittorio,  146,  271 

Alphonso  V.,  the  Magnani- 
mous, 60 

Alphonso  X.,  of  Castile,  37 

Alphonso  I.,  of  Naples,  98; 
flight  to  Sicily,  101 

Alphonso  di  Biseglia,  106 

Alphonso  d'Este,  106 

Alphonso  la  Marmora,  192; 
in  the  Crimea,  197;  in- 
terviews Bismarck,  224 ; 
death,  238 

Amadeus  VIII.,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  131 ;  abdicates  and 


3°3 


3°4 


Index 


becomes  anti-Pope,  resigns 
again,  132 

Amadeus,     son     of  Victor 

Emanuel    II.,   241;  death, 

251 

Amalfi,  independence  of,  17; 
crippled,  20;  attacked  by 
Pisa,  24 

Amari,  historic  writer,  276 

Amba,  Alagi,  268 

d'Amicis,  Edmondo,  278 ; 
fame  of,  279 

Anagni,  Boniface  VIII.,  im- 
prisoned at,  45 

Anconian  republic,  153 

Andrea  Doria,  121 

Andrea,  nephew  of  Dante, 
49 

Andrew,  58 

Anjou,  Charles  of,  Senator 
in  Rome,  37;  King  of 
Two  Sicilies,  38;  retires 
from  Sicily,  44 

Aniello,  Tomaso  (see  Ma- 
saniello),  135 

Annaibbaldi,  44 

Anne,  sister  of  Gian  Gastone, 
137 

d'Annunzio,  Gabriele,  278 

Antologia  Archivio  Storico 
Italiano,  276 

Antonio,  assassin  of  Lo- 
renzo di  Medici,  88 

Antonio  di  Venassio  of  Si- 
ena, 105 

Apulian  Duchy,  formation 
of,  19 

Aquilea,  retained  by  Austria, 
226 

Aquitania,  divided  between 
sons  of  Charles  Mattel,  10 


Arabbiati,  97,  102 

Aracoeli,  Church  of,  35 

Arch  of  Triumph  in  Paris, 
ISO 

Arch,  triumphal,  in  Milan, 
ISO 

Arcola,  Battle  of,  151 

Arcos,  Duke  of,  136 

Arduin,  Magnus,  of  Ivrea, 
18 

Argentine  Republic,  Italian 
Colony  in,  261 

Arimondi,  General,  269 

Ariosto,  112 

Arlotti,  Jacob,  captain,  in 
Rome,  56 

Armillini,  188 

Army,  modern  Italian,  257 

Arnold  da  Brescia,  24; 
Burned  alive,  26 

Arnulf,  12 

Assab  Bay,  265 

Asti,  destroyed  by  Barba- 
rossa,  25 

Austerlitz,  Battle  of,  159 

Austria,  at  war  with  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte,  147-166; 
takes  possession  of  all  con- 
stitutional cities  in  Italy, 
173;  takes  Sardinia,  181 ; 
forced  to  retreat,  182;  vic- 
torious, 188;  takes  Venice, 
191 ;  arraigned  at  Paris 
Congress,  197 ;  defeated, 
203;  again  at  war  with 
Italy,  224;  defeated  by 
Prussians,  225 

Austrian  Succession,  War 
of,  140 

Avellino,  people  of,  demand 
Constitution,  172 


Index 


305 


Avignon,     Babylonian     Cap- 
tivity at,  53 


Babylonian      Captivity,      53 ; 

length  of,  75 
Baglione,  Malatesta,  123 
Baglione  of  Perugia,  105 
Balbo,  author,  276 
Baldissera,  General,  269 
Balia,  the  first,  80 
Ballot,  modern  Italian,  263 
Bamberga,  Castle  of,  14 
Bandini,    Bernardo,    assassin, 

88 
Baratieri,       General,       268 ; 

court-martialed,    269 
Barbarossa,  Frederick,  called 

into  Italy,  25;    destruction 

of    Milan,    26;     beaten    at 

Legnano,  27;    drowned,  29 
Barbiano,  Count  of,  74 
Bartollini,  Lorenzo,  sculptor, 

280 
Battista,    Giovanni,    assassin, 

88 
Beatrice,  mother  of  Countess 

Mathilda,  21 
Beatrice,  wife  of  Charles  of 

Anjou,  37 

Beatrice,  Dante's  ideal,  46 
Beatrice,  wife  of  Charles  of 

Sicily,  131 

Beatrice,    daughter   of    Her- 
cules III.,  145 
Belisarius,  5 

Bellini,  the  musician,  280,  281 
Bembo,  Pietro,  author,  112 
Benedict  XII.,  58 
Benedict     XIII.,     Anti-Pope, 

76 


Bentivegna,  Baron  Fran- 
cesco, 198 

Bentivoglio  of  Bologna,  105; 
wife  of,  rebuked  by  Sav- 
onarola, 96 

Berchet,  Giovanni,  a  poet, 
274 

Berengarius  I.,  12 

Berengarius  II.,  13 

Bergamo,  Garibaldi  enters, 
203 

Berlin  Congress,  242 

Bernabo  Visconti,  70;  mur- 
der of,  72 

Bertani,  Agostino,  207 

Bigi,  the,  103 

Bismarck,  favors  alliance 
with  Italy,  224 

Bixo,  Nino,  General,  207, 
229 

Black  Band,  118 

Boccaccio,  Giovanni,  63,  64 

Bocca  degli  Abati  betrays 
Florence,  36 

Boethius,  the  philosopher,  4 

Boito,  Arrigo,  the  musician, 
282 

Bologna,  conspicuous  as  a 
city,  23 

Bomba  (see  Ferdinand  II.  of 
Two  Sicilies) 

Bombino  (see  Francis  II.  of 
Two  Sicilies) 

Bona  of  Savoy,  90 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon  (see 
Napoleon) 

Bonaparte,  Pauline,  164 

Bonaparte,  Young,  176 

Bonaparte,  Jerome,  in  Italy, 
228 

Boniface    VIII.,    Pope,    44; 


306 


Index 


makes  1300  Jubilee  year, 
45,  57 

Boniface  IX.,  74 

Bonnivard,  132 

Bonnivet,  Guillaume  de,  118; 
slain,  119 

Borges,  Don  Jose,  215 

Borghese,  Count,  164 

Borghese  Villa,  164 

Borgia,  Rodrigo  (see  Alex- 
ander VI.) 

Borgia,  Cesare,  94;  ad- 
vancement of,  103;  mas- 
sacres the  Orsini,  105; 
legend  in  connection  with, 
106 

Borgia,  Lucretia,  94;  char- 
acter of,  106 

Boso  of  Provence,  131 

Bosphorus,  sea-fight  on  the, 
75 

Botta,  the  historian,  exiled, 
156 

Bourbons,  expulsion  of,  159 

Bovines,  Battle  of,  31 

Bracciano,  Castle  of,  56 

Braccio  da  Montone,  77; 
method  of  warfare,  83 

Bramanti,  109 

Brancaleone  of  Andolo,  34; 
Senator  at  Rome,  35; 
death,  37 

Brescia,  Charles  Albert  de- 
fends, 187 

Brigandage  in  Italy,  215 

Buondelmonti,  30 

Cabinet,  modern  Italian,  255 
Cadorna,  General,  229 
Calabria,  part  of  Two  Sici- 
lies, 20 


Calabria,  Duke  of,  58 
Calvin,  116 
Calycadmus,  29 
Cambray,  Peace  of,  122 
Campaldino,  Battle  of,  46 
Campanile,  fall  of,  at  Venice, 

297 
Campo     Formio,     Peace    of, 

153 

Can  Grande  della  Scala,  47,  49 
Canosa,  174 
Canossa,  21 
Canova,  Antonio,  279 
Cantu,  276 
Capocci,   Angelo,   Captain  of 

Roman  republic,  38 
Capponi     Neri,     96;      Piero, 

99;    patriotic  writer,  276 
Capponi      Nicolo,      Gonfalo- 

niere  of  Florence,   122 
Caprera,  Garibaldi  retires  to, 

212;    death  of  Garibaldi  at, 

242 
Capri,    annexed    to    Naples, 

160 

Caprona,  Dante  at,  46 
Capua,  fortress  of,  taken  by 

Italians,  212 
Carbinieri,  255 
Carbonari,  171 
Carducci,  Giosue,  277 
Caroccio,  origin  of,  18 
Caroline,    Queen,    157;     im- 
plores intercession  of  Czar, 

158 ;      incites     Revolution, 

161;    banished  by  English, 

164 
Carraresi,  despots  in  Padua, 

55 

Casale,      ceded      to      Victor 
Amadeus  II.,  136 


Index 


3°7 


Castelfidardo,      Papal      army 

beaten  at,  210 
Castracani,  Castruccio,  57 
Castrucci,    tyrants    in   Lucca, 

55 

Catalafimi,  victory  at,  208 
Cateau-Cambresis,    Peace    of, 

130,  133 
Catherine,    wife    of    Charles 

Emanuel  the  Great,  134 
Cavallo,  Leon,  musician,  282 
Cavalotti,  author,  270 
Cavour,    Camillo    Benso    di, 
178;     begins    his    reforms, 
196;     in    Paris,    197;     ar- 
ranges with  Napoleon  III., 
199;     labors    for    govern- 
ment, 200;    cedes  Savoy  to 
Napoleon,      205;       as      a 
statesman,      217;       illness, 
218;    death,  219;    affection 
and    confidence    in    Victor 
Emanuel,  220 
Celestin  III.,  Pope,  56 
Cellini,  Benevenuto,  112 
Cenis,       Mont,       Barbarossa 
flees    across,    27;     French 
cross,  118 
Censors,  chosen,  75 
Cerignola,  Battle  of,  104 
Certosa  di  Pavia,  72 
Chamber   of   Deputies,   mod- 
ern, 254 
Charlemagne,     10 ;      crowned 

Emperor,  n 
Charles  Martel,  IO 
Charles  the  Fat,  12 
Charles  of  Valois,  45 
Charles  III.  (see  Durazza) 
Charles  IV.,  of  Germany,  67 
Charles  VIII.,  of  France,  in- 


vited to  enter  Italy,  99; 
accepts  terms  in  Florence, 
100;  enemies  of,  101 ;  re- 
tires from  Italy,  102; 
death,  103 

Charles  V.,  or  Charles  II., 
of  Spain,  115;  receives 
.duchy  of  Milan  from 
Sforza,  116;  Venice  unites 
with,  117;  circumvents  the 
French,  118;  forces  Flor- 
ence to  let  back  the  Med- 
ici, 123;  surrenders  rule 
to  his  son,  125;  dies,  136 
Charles  of  Bourbon  (see 

Great  Constable) 
Charles  III,  of  Savoy,  132 
Charles  Emanuel,  the  Great, 
133;    lays  claim  to  throne 
of  France,  134 
Charles  Emanuel  II.,  135 
Charles  VI.,  of  Austria,   137 
Charles    Emanuel    III.,    138; 
enters  into  Treaty  of  Vi- 
enna,    139;      joins     Maria 
Theresa,   140;    virtues  and 
characteristics,  142 
Charles   III.,   of   Spain,  Don 

Carlos,  139,  144 
Charles   VII.,   of   Two   Sici- 
lies, 139,  144 

Charles   Emanuel   IV.,   with- 
draws to  Sardinia,  155 
Charles  IV.,  of  Spain,  159 
Charles    Albert,    regent    for 
Charles    Felix,    173;     sent 
to  Spain,  175;    succeeds  to 
throne,  176;    urged  to  up- 
hold the  liberals,   178;    re- 
sents   oppression    of    Aus- 
tria, 180;  takes  a  stand  for 


308  Index 


freedom  of  Italy,  185 ;  de- 
feat, 185 ;  continues  to 
fight,  188;  abdicates,  188 

Charles  Felix,  173;  death, 
176 

Chevalier  Bayard,  118 

Chinaglia,  President  of 
Chamber,  271 

Chioggia,  Naval  Battle  at, 
78 

Chivasso,  131 

Church  and  State,  230;  re- 
lation of  Leo  XIII.  to, 
246;  possible  effect  of 
election  of  Pius  X.,  249, 
25°>*  greater  friendliness 
of,  259 

Christian  II.  of  Denmark, 
116 

Christina,  wife  of  Francesco 
Sforza,  116 

Christina,  wife  of  Victor 
Amadeus  I.,  135 

Cialdini,  General,  203 ;  sent 
against  Garibaldi,  210 

Cimabue,  63 

Ciprian,  brigand,  216 

Circe,  219 

Cisalpine  republic,  153;  re- 
established, 158 

Cispadane  republic,  151 

Cities,  Rise  of,  17 

Civita  Vecchia,  192 

Civitella,  Battle  of,  19 

Clarendon,  Lord,  198 

Clarence,  Duke  of,  71 

Clement  IV.,  Pope,  38 

Clement  V.,  Pope,  com- 
mences Babylonian  Cap- 
tivity, 53 

Clement  VI.,  Pope,  58;  aids 


Joanna,  59 ;  upholds  Ri- 
enzi,  65 

Clement  VII.,  Anti-Pope,  76 

Clement  VII.,  Pope,  120; 
capture  of,  122;  Florence 
prey  of,  123 ;  death  of, 
124 

Clement  XIV.  hurls  bull 
against  Jesuits,  127,  144 

Clement  XII.  gives  permis- 
sion to  destroy  San  Ma- 
rino, 169 

Clothilde,  daughter  of  Vic- 
tor Emanuel  II.,  199 

Clovis,  the  Frank,  4 

Cluny,  regime,  22 

Coatit,  268 

Colonna,  family  of,  44;  Sci- 
arra,  44,  55;  arms  of,  55, 
56;  Rienzi  at  war  with, 
65;  Stephen,  65;  Otto,  78 

Colonna,   Fabriccio,   108 

Colonna,  Prospero,  taken 
prisoner,  114;  overcomes 
French,  118 

Colonna,   Stephen,   123 

Columbus,  104 

Comagnola,  Francesco,  82 

Commune,  23 

Company  of  St.  George,  61 

Conclave  of  Cardinals,  to 
elect  Leo  XIII.,  240;  to 
elect  Pius  X.,  247 

Concordat  of  Worms,  23 

Congress  of  Paris,  197 

Conrad  II.,  18 

Conrad  III.,  24 

Conrad  IV.,  34 

Conradin,  38 

Constance,  29 

Constance,  council  at,  77 


Index 


3°9 


Coreggi,  despots  at  Cremona, 
74 

Corneto,  siege  of,  37 

Corte  Nuova,  defeat  of  Mi- 
lanese at,  33,  69 

Corrente,  author,  276 

Council  of  Ten,  Decemvirs, 
48 

Crescentius,  ruler  in  Rome, 
15 

Crimean  War,  Piedmont  in, 
197 

Crispi,  Francesco,  hopes  of 
Italian  freedom  of,  178; 
encourages  Garibaldi,  207; 
as  prime  minister,  266;  as 
a  journalist  and  statesman, 
267;  failure  and  resigna- 
tion, 269;  death  of,  295 

Croce,  Church  of  Santa,  in 
Florence,  52 

Custoza,  first  defeat  at,  184; 
second  defeat  at,  225 

Czarnowsky,  188 

Dabormida,  General,  269 

Dante,  reference  to,  36;  con- 
version of,  45;  love  for 
Beatrice,  46;  exile  of,  47; 
wanderings  of,  48;  Divina 
Commedia  of,  49;  per- 
sonal appearance  of,  51 ; 
death  of,  52 

Delia  Scala,  family,  73 

Delia  Torre,  Napoleone  Pa- 
gano,  69 

Depretis,  237;    death  of,  266 

Dervishes,  268 

Desaix,  General,  158 

Desiderius,  7;  overcome  by 
Charlemagne,  10 


d'Este,  family,  73 

Divina  Commedia,  49 

Dominicans,  31 

Donati  Corso,  45;  father-in- 
law  of  Dante,  47;  killed, 
48 

Don  Henry,  senator  of 
Rome,  38 

Donizetti,  280;    style  of,  281 

Doria,  despots  in  Genoa,  55; 
Luciano,  78 

Dunbowski,  scientist,  283 

Durazza,  Charles,  59 


Education   in   Italy,   modern, 

262 
Edward      III.'s      troops      in 

Italy,  75 

Eight  of  War,  79 
Eleanor,    Queen    of     Henry 

III.  of  England,  131 
Eliza,     sister     of     Napoleon 

Bonaparte,  161 
Emanuele,    Duke    of    Aosta, 

251 

Emigration  from  Italy,  260 
England    takes    a    stand    for 

Italy,     214;     royal     couple 

visit,  299 
Enzio,  34 
Erythrea,  African  colony  of, 

261,  266 
Estensi,    despots    in    Ferrara, 

55 

Etruria,  kingdom  of,  158,  161 
Eugene  IV.,  Pope,  78 
Eugene     Beauharnais,      159; 

obliged  to  surrender,  167 
Eugene    of     Savoy,     Prince, 

137 


Index 


Exarchs,  6 

Ezzelino     da    Romano,     32; 
death  of,  34 


Facino  Cane,  74 

Farnese,  family,  124;  Eliza- 
beth, 137 

Farini,  statesman,  221 

Fedrigo,  Duke  of  Urbino,  90 

Fedrigo,    Confaloniere,    174 

Felix  V.,  Anti-Pope  (see 
Amadeus  VII.) 

Ferdinand  I.,  of  Naples,  90; 
death  of,  99 

Ferdinand  II.,  of  Naples; 
flight  of,  101 ;  death,  102 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  of 
Spain,  104;  joins  League 
of  Cambray,  107;  joins 
Holy  League,  108;  death, 
US 

Ferdinand  of  Germany, 
Duke,  118 

Ferdinand  II.,  of  Spain,  125 

Ferdinand  VI.,  of  Spain, 
139 

Ferdinand  IV,  of  Naples, 
T39»  !45!  defies  Napoleon, 
155;  retires  to  Sicily,  156; 
raises  insurrection,  158; 
exiled,  160;  abdicates,  164; 
recommences  rule  as 

Ferdinand  I.,  of  Two  Sici- 
lies, 170;  grants  Constitu- 
tion, 172;  reinstated,  173; 
death  of,  174 

Ferdinand  of  Austria,  142, 
145 

Ferdinand  III.,  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  169 


Ferdinand  II.,  of  Two  Sici- 
lies, 174;  promises  Con- 
stitution, 181 ;  retires  from 
alliance  with  Charles  Al- 
bert, 185;  victorious,  186; 
defeated  at  Palestrina, 
192;  oppression  of,  198; 
death  of,  206 

Ferdinand  I.,  of  Austria,  179 
Ferdinand,    Duke    of    Genoa, 

197 

Fernando  da  Gonzaga,  125 
Fieschi,    Conspiracy    of    the, 

135 

Filibert,  Emanuel,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  130 ;  achievements 
of,  133 

Filippo  Maria  Visconti,  74 
Fiorentino,  Castle  of,  34 
Florence,   as   a    republic,   24; 
Guelphs      and     Ghibellines 
in,  30;   barely  escapes   de- 
struction, 36;    Constitution 
of,  40;    oppression  of,  58; 
rise    of    the     Medici,    79; 
rule    of   the    Magnifico   in, 
89;  under  power  of  Savo- 
narola,  96;    expels    Medici 
and   receives    French,    100; 
again    in    hands    of,    108; 
renewed  struggles  with  the 
Medici  in,  122;    republican 
spirit  crushed  out  in,  124; 
capital  of  Italy,  223 
Fontainebleau,  Pius  VII.  im- 
prisoned at,  161 
Formusus,  Pope,  13 
Foscolo,  Ugo,  author,  272 
Fra  Ilario,  50 

Fra  Monreale,  61 ;  under 
Rienzi,  67 


Index 


311 


Francesca  da  Rimini,  55 

Francesco  di  Carrara,  74 

Francis  I.,  of  France,  114; 
claims  Roman  Empire, 
115;  driven  out  of  Em- 
pire, 117;  imprisoned,  119; 
joins  Holy  League,  121 

France  recognizes  Victor 
Emanuel  II.,  214 

Francesco,   Ferruccio,   123 

Francis  of  Lorraine,  140,  141 

Francis  IV.,  son  of  Beatrice 
d'Este,  169 

Francis  II.,  of  Austria,  170; 
death,  179 

Francis  I.,  of  Two  Sicilies, 
174 

Francis  of  Modena,  175; 
restored,  176 

Francis  Joseph  of  Austria, 
204 

Francis  II.,  of  Two  Sicilies, 
207;  refuses  alliance  with 
Cavour,  211;  driven  to 
flight,  213;  supports  male- 
factors, 216 

Franciscans,  31 

Frederick  II.,  Emperor,  29; 
ruler  of  the  world,  31 ; 
death  of,  34 

Frederick  of  Aragon,  54 

Frederick  the  Fair,  57 

Frederick  III.,  84;  crowned 
by  Pope  Nicholas,  85 

Frederick  of   Naples,   104 

Frederick  the  Great,  140 

Free  Companies,  61 

French  withdraw  from  Rome, 
226 

Freundsberg,  General,  119; 
death  of,  120 


Gaeta,   City   of,   20;     French 

withdraw  fleet  from,  212 
Gaetani,  56 
Galileo,  126 
Galliano,  Major,  268 
Garganza,  Castle  of,  47 
Garibaldi,       Giuseppe,       179; 
early  activity  of,   187;  put 
in     command     of     Roman 
forces,     192;      defeat     and 
escape,  193;    quarrels  with 
Cavour,    205 ;     leads    Sici- 
lian  expedition,   207;     suc- 
cess,   208;     enters    Naples, 
209      argues  with   Cavour, 

211  retires    to    Caprera, 

212  reconciled  to  Cavour, 
214;    is  wounded,  222;    in 
the     Tyrol,     224;      under 
guard,  226;    escapes  and  is 
recaptured,  227;    in  Parlia- 
ment, 235;    death  of,  242 

Gaston  de  Fois,  108 

Gelimar,  the  Vandal,  5 

Genoa,  20,  23;  contentions 
with  Pisa,  42;  competi- 
tion with  Venice,  75;  loses 
power,  78 

Gerbert  (see  Sylvester  II.) 

Gheradesca,  Count,  43 

Gian  Galeazzo  (see  Vis- 
conti) 

Gian  Gastone,  137 

Gioberti,  Vincenzo,  196; 
works  of,  276 

Giotto,  63 

Giovanni  di  Polenta,  55 

Giuseppe  la  Farina,  207 

Giusti,  Giuseppe,  275 

Gladstone,  198 

Godfrey  of  Lorraine,  22 


3I2 


Index 


Goito,  Bridge  of  Victory  at, 
184;  Victor  Emanuel,  120 

Gonsalvo  da  Cordova,  104; 
treachery  of,  106 

Gonzago,  tyrants  in  Mantua, 
73 

Graf,  Arthur,  278 

Grandella,  Battle  of,  38 

Gravina  Palace,  105 

Great  Company,  62 

Great  Constable  (Charles  of 
Bourbon),  117;  victorious, 
119;  killed,  120 

Gregory  III.,  the  Great,  7; 
piety  of,  9 

Gregory  V.,  15 

Gregory  VII.,  21,  22 

Gregory  IX.,  32 

Gregory  X.,  39 

Gregory  XI.,  75 

Gregory  XII.,  76 

Gregory  XIIL,  127 

Gregory  XVI.,  176 

Grenoble,  Fortress  of,  122 

Grimoald,  7 

Grisons,  134 

Grossi,  Tomaso,  275 

Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  25; 
confusion  of,  31,  54 

Guerazzi,   Menco,  275 

Guibert,  Archbishop  of  Ra- 
venna, 22 

Guicciardini,  113 

Guido  da  Polenta,  51 

Guillaume  di  Bonnivet,  118 

Guise,  Duke  of,  134 

Hadrian  IV.,  26 
Hadrian  VI.,  117 
Hadrumentum,  273 
Hamilton,  Lady,  156 


Hauteville,  20,  60 

Hawkwood,  Sir  John,  62; 
assists  Florence,  79 

Hayez,  280 

Haynau,  191 

Helene,  Queen  of  Italy,  291 

Henry  II.,  of  Bavaria,  18 

Henry  III.,  19 

Henry  IV.,  21;    death  of,  23 

Henry  V.,  23 

Henry  VI.,  29 

Henry  VII.,  crosses  into 
Italy,  53;  death,  54 

Henry  VIII.,  of  England, 
108 

Henry  of  Navarre,  IV.,  of 
France,  134 

Hercules  III.,  Duke  of  Mo- 
dena,  145 

Heribert,  18 

Hildebrand  (see  Gregory 
VII.),  20 

Holy  League,  119,  121 

Holy  See,  20 

Honorius  III.,  Pope,  31 

Hugh  of  Provence,  13 

Huguenots,  134 

Humbert  of  the  White 
Hand,  131 

Humbert  I.,  240;  early  life 
of,  241 ;  assassination  of, 
285 ;  mourning  for,  287 ; 
kindness  of,  288;  memori- 
als to,  293 

Humbert,  Prince  of  Pied- 
mont, 296 

Huss,  John,  78 

Illyria,  378 

Illyrian  War,  118;  colonies, 
war  with,  181 


Index 


313 


Induno,  Domenico  Girolamo, 

artist,  280 

Innocent  III.,  Pope,  29 
Innocent  VI.,  67 
Innocent  VIII.,  go;  death  of, 

94 

Inquisition,  126 
lolanda,    wife    of    Frederick 

II.,  32 

lolanda,  Princess,  293 
Ionian  Islands,  129 
Ippolito,  122 
Iron    Crown    of    Lombardy, 

25,  226 
Isabel,    wife    of    Gian    Ga- 

leazzo  Visconti,  71 
Isabella  of  Spain,  115 
Ischia,  Island  of,  101 
Italian  republic,  158 
Ivrea,  Margraf  of,  131 
Ivry,  Battle  of,  134 

James  of  Aragon,  59 

Jean  d'Arc,  32 

Jesuits,   126;    repressed,  144; 

re-established,    168 
Joanna,  58 
Joanna  II.,  60 
Joanna,    mother    of    Charles 

V.,  115 

John  XII.,  Pope,  14 
John  X.,  15 
John  of  Brienne,  32 
John  of  Procida,  43 
John  XXII.,  55 
John  XXIII.,  77 
John,    Negus    of    Abyssinia, 

265 
Joseph  of  Austria,  death  of, 

137 
Joseph  II.,  of  Austria,  144 


Joseph,   King   of   Naples,   of 

Spain,  60 
Josephine,  159 
Julius  II.,  Pope,  106;    forms 

Holy   League,    108;     death 

of,  109 

Julius  III.,  Pope,  125 
Justin  II.,  6 
Justinian,  4;    death  of,  6 

Kassala,  268 

Khartoum,  265 

Koniggratz,  Prussian  success 

at,  225 
Kunimund,  7 

Ladislaus,     59;      height     of 

power  of,  77 
Lafala,  brigand,  216 
La  Marmora    (see  Alphonso 

la   Marmora) 

La   Farina,   Giuseppe,  207 
Lamoriciere,    capitulation   of, 

210 

Lambert,  12 
Landi,  General,  208 
Lando,  Count,  61 
Lanza,  221 
Latini  Brunetto,  46 
Laura,  63 
League     of     Cambray,     107; 

broken  up,  108 
Leghorn,  152 
Legnano,  Battle  at,  27 
Leo  III.,  Pope,  10 
Leo  IX.,  19,  26 
Leo  X.,   Giovanni  di  Medici, 

109;    Golden  Age  of,  112; 

death,  116 
Leo  XII.,  opens  Holy  Door, 

244 


Index 


Leo  XIII.,  appointed  Pope, 
240;  opens  Holy  Door, 
244;  twenty-fifth  anniver- 
sary of,  245;  death  of, 
245 ;  ceremonies  attending 
funeral  of,  246 

Leonardo  da  Vinci,  in 

Leonine  City,  230 

Leonora,  1 13 

Leopardi,  Giacomo,  273 

Leopold  of  Austria,  136 

Leopold  II.,  141;  promises 
Constitution,  181 

Lepanto,  Battle  of,  128 

Leyback,  Alliance  at,  172 

Ligurian  republic,  153 

Lissa,  defeat  at,  225 

Liutprand,  7 

Loches,  Castle  of,  103 

Lodi,  25;  Peace  of,  86; 
Battle  of,  150 

Loeben,  152 

Lombard  League,  27 

Lombards,  6,  17 

Lombardy,  145 

Lothair,  n 

Lothair  II.,  13 

Louis  the  Pious,  II 

Louis  II.,  n 

Louis  IX.,  of  France,  37 

Louis  IV.,  of  Bavaria,  57 

Louis  of  Taranta,  59 

Louis  of  Hungary,  59 

Louis,  Duke  of  Anjou,  59 

Louis  III.,  59 

Louis  XL,  90 

Louis  XII.,  103;  in  Milan, 
104;  death  of,  114 

Louis  of  Savoy,  son  of 
Amadeus  VIII.,  132 

Louis  XIII.,  134 


Louis  XIV.,  135 

Louis  XV.,  139 

Louis  Philippe,  175 

Louise  of  Savoy,  117 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  126 

Lucca,  169 

Luigi,  Duke  of  Abruzzi  (see 

Abruzzi) 
Luneville,  Treaty  of,  158 

Machiavelli,   113 

Mafalda,  Princess,  295 

Mafia,  271 

Magenta,      Battle     of,     203; 

Humbert  I.  at,  241 
Magione,  Diet  of,  105 
Makaleh,  268 
Malaspina,    Dante   visits,   49; 

historians,  63 
Malatesta,  despots  at  Rimini, 

55;   at  Brescia,  74 
Mameli,  Goffredo,  poet,  193 
Manfred,  36,  37 
Manfredi,     despots     in     Fa- 

enza,  55 
Manin,  Daniele,  182;    dies  in 

exile,  191 

Manini,  Luigi,  152 
Manno,  author,  276 
Manzoni,  Alexander,  273 
Marconi,  283 
Mareb-Belesse,     Muna     Line, 

269 

Marengo,  Battle  of,  158 
Margaret,  wife  of  Ottaviano, 

125 
Margaret,  wife  of  Louis  IX. 

of  France,  131 
Margaret,    wife    of    Emanuel 

Filibert,  133 ;  and  daughter 

of  Francis  I.,  134 


Index  315 


Margherita,  Queen,  marriage 

of    Humbert   to,    241 ;     eu- 
logy of,  287;    honors   for, 

289 

Maria  in  Carignano,  42 
Maria    Caroline    of    Austria, 

145   {see  Caroline) 
Maria  Theresa,  139;    King  of 

Sardinia     makes      alliance 

with,  140 
Maria    Therese,    mother    of 

Victor  Emanuel  II.,  197 
Maria    Christina,    mother   of 

Francis     II.,     of     Naples, 

207 
Maria,    ex-queen    of    Naples, 

213 

Marie  Antoinette,  145 
Marie  Louise,   168 
Marignano,    73;     Battle    of, 

US 

Marinus,  373;    Saint,  169 
Marlborough,    137 
Marochetti,  sculptor,  280 
Marozia,  13 
Marsala,  208 
Marshal  de  Lautrec,  121 
Martin  IV.,  Pope,  44 
Martin  V.,  78 
Martin   Luther,   116 
Mary    Adelaide    of    Ranieri, 

241    (see  Adelaide) 
Mary  of  Burgundy,  115 
Masaniello      (see      Aniello), 

135 

Mascagni,  282 
Massaccio,  86 
Massimo  d'Azeglio,  180; 

sayings    of,    257,    259;     as 

a  writer,  275 
Massowah,  265 


Mathilda,  Countess  of  Tus- 
cany, 21 

Maurienne,  Counts  of,  130 

Maximilian,  108 

Mazarin,  145 

Mazzini,  Giuseppe,  177 ; 
hides  in  London,  178; 
death  of,  236;  brief  biog- 
raphy of,  237;  as  a  writer, 
276 

Medici,    Alessandro    de',    124 

Medici,  Cosimo  de',  81 ; 
prosperity  introduced  by, 
86;  death  of,  87 

Medici,  Cosimo  de',  124 

Medici,  Giovanni  de',  81 

Medici,  Giovanni  de',  Leo 
X.,  91;  ascends  Papal 
throne,  104;  grants  in- 
dulgences, no;  encourages 
art,  in;  death  of,  117 

Medici,  Giovanni  de',  of  the 
Black  Band,  118 

Medici,  Giovanni  Gaston,  125 

Medici,  Giuliano  de',  87; 
murdered,  88 

Medici,  Giuliano,  son  of 
Lorenzo,  94 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de',  the 
Magnifico,  87;  culture  of, 
90;  death,  92 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de',  nephew 
of  Leo  X.,  114 

Medici,  Pietro  de',  87 

Medici,  Pietro  de',  son  of 
Lorenzo,  94;  exiles  Savo- 
narola from  Florence,  96; 
expelled  from  Florence,  99 

Medici,  Silvestro  de',  79, 
81 

Medina  del  Campo,  106 


316  Index 

Melegnano,  Battle  at,  203 

Meloria,  Council  at,  33;  bat- 
tle of,  42 

Menelik,  king  of  Shoa,  265; 
life  of,  267;  presents  gift 
to  Princess  lolande,  294 

Menotti,  Giro,  175 

Metternich,  179;    flees,  181 

Michaelangelo,  no;  assists 
Florence,  122 

Michael  of  Constantinople, 
43 

Michele  di  Lando,  80 

Milan,  Visconti,  in,  55,  79; 
a  republic,  83;  Capital  of 
Cisalpine  republic,  154; 
Austrians  enter,  167;  riot 
and  freedom  for,  182; 
Charles  Albert's  entrance 
into,  185;  riots  in,  270; 
representative  feeling  in, 
299 

Milazzo,  battle  at,  208 

Minghetti,  221 

Modena,  Duchy  of,  145,  151, 
169 

Mohammed,  86 

Monaco,  given  to  France, 
214 

Montanelli,  188 

Monte  Aperto,  Battle  of,  36 

Montebello,   Battle   of,  203 

Monte  Mario,  14 

Monte  Rotondo,  victory  at, 
227 

Montferrat,  Marquis  of,  25, 
74;  overcome  by  Ama- 
deus  VIII.,  131 ;  given  to 
France,  135 

Monti,  Vincenzo,  author, 
272 


Morals    in    Italy    of    to-day, 

262 

Morelli,  artist,  280 
Moroello  Malaspina,  48 
Morosini,    Venetian    general, 

129 

Mortara,  defeat  at,  188 
Murat,  in  Naples,  158;  King 

of  Naples,  160;   disloyal  to 

France,  166;    execution  of, 

171 
Mustapha,  128 

Naples,  Independence  of,  17; 
capital  of  Two  Sicilies,  20; 
plague,  64;  uprising  in, 
I35»  becomes  part  of  Aus- 
tria, 137;  Garibaldi  enters, 
207;  destitution  in,  285 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  takes 
command  of  the  French, 
148;  Emperor  of  France, 
159;  downfall  of,  166; 
offered  crown  of  Italy, 
165;  at  Elba,  170 

Napoleon  III.,  an  ally,  199; 
unites  with  Victor  Eman- 
uel  II.,  203 ;  makes  peace 
with  Austria,  204 

Napoleon,  Louis,   164 

Narses,  5;  rules  as  Exarch, 
6 

Navy,  256 

Nelson,   155;    cruelty  of,  156 

Niccolini,     Giovani     Battista, 

275 

Nicholas  I.,  Pope,  15;  pa- 
tron of  Orsini,  57 

Nicholas  II.,  20 

Nicholas  III.,  39 

Nicholas  V.,  78;    rule  of,  85 


Index 


317 


Niveo,  Ippolito,  author,  277 
Nimwegen,  Treaty  of,  136 
Nogari,  William,  44 
Nota  Bartolo,  271 
Novara,      Battle      at,      188; 

Peace  of,  195 
Novi,  Battle  of,  157 

Octavian,    Pope    John    XII., 

H 

Oreglia,  Cardinal,  2,  46 
Orsini,    44;     history    of,    56, 

66;   plots  against,  105 
Orsini,  Felici,  199 
Osman  Digma,  268 
Otto  II.,  14 
Otto  III.,  14,  15 
Otto  IV.,  30 
Otto  of  Brunswick,  59 
Ottaviano,  125 
Ottaviano  Fregoso,  114 
Oudinot,  General,  192 

Padua,  24 

Palazzo,  Deputy,  271 

Palermo,  expels  Bourbons, 
172;  taken  by  Garibaldi, 
208 

Palmerston,  Lord,  214 

Paolo  the  Handsome,  55 

Papal  States,  nucleus  of,  n; 
Investiture,  20,  23;  States 
occupied  by  Napoleon, 
161 ;  government,  decline 
of,  217;  temporal  power, 
fall  of,  229 

Parini,   Giuseppe,  271 

Parma,  Duke  of,  compro- 
mises with  Napoleon,  151; 
king  of  Etruria,  158 


Parthenopian  republic,   155 

Parthians,  annihilation  of,  5 

Parties  of  Right  and  Left, 
237 

Pasque  Veronese,  152 

Passarowitz,  Peace  of,  129 

Paul  III,  124 

Paul  IV.,  126 

Pavia,  7,  25;  court  of  Ga- 
leazzo  Visconti  at,  71 ; 
Certosa  di,  72 

Pazzi,  Jacopo  de',  Francesco 
de',  conspiracy  of,  88;  mas- 
sacre, 89 

Pecci,  Cardinal  Gioachino 
(see  Leo  XIII.) 

Pellico,  Silvio,  274 

Pellou,  270 

Pepe,  General,  172 

Pepin  the  Short,  10 

Persano,  225 

Perugia,  republic,  23;  oc- 
cupied by  Italian  soldiers, 
210 

Pescara,  Marquis  of,  no, 
118;  betrays  Holy  League, 
119 

Peschiera,  fortress  of,  184 

Peter,  King  of  Aragon,  43 

Petrarch,  63 

Philip  the  Bold,  44 

Philip  the  Fair,  45 

Philip  of  Austria,  115 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  125,  133 

Philip  IV.,  134 

Philip  of  Anjou,  Philip  V. 
of  Spain,  131 

Piagnoni,  102 

Piazza  del  Popolo,  26 

Piazzi,  283 

Piccinini,  Nicholas,  83 


Index 


Piedmont,  important,  133; 
annexed  to  France,  156; 
demands  Constitution,  172; 
and  Prussia,  224 

Pietro  Luigi,  125 

Pisa,  independence  of,  17; 
beauties  of,  20;  competi- 
tion of,  24;  on  side  of 
Ghibellines,  38;  defeat  by 
Genoa,  42;  loss  by  plague, 
64;  Archbishop  of,  87;  in 
power  of  Florence,  107 

Pisani,  Vittorio,  78 

Pitti,  Luca,  87;    Palace,  86 

Pius  II.,  86 

Pius  V.,  127 

Pius  VI.,  144;  false  to 
France,  154;  opens  Holy 
Door,  244 

Pius  VII.,  157;  imprisoned, 
161 ;  returned,  167 

Pius  IX.,  179;  retires  from 
contest,  185;  flees  from 
Naples,  194;  imprisons  him- 
self in  Vatican,  229;  gen- 
erous concessions  to,  231; 
refuses  audience  to  king, 
234;  death  of,  239 

Pius  X.,  elected,  248;  history 
of,  249 

Pizzighitone  Castle,  119 

Polenta  Family,  55 

Polish  Succession,  War  of, 
139 

Political  differences,  in  Italy, 
264 

Ponchielli,  282 

Ponzo  di  San  Martino,  259 

Popolani  Grossi,  58 

Portinari,  Beatrice,  46 

Postal  facilities,  263 


Potenza,  in  revolt,  209 
Prati,  Giovanni,  277 
Prague,  67;    Peace  of,  225 
Presentation  journey,  294 
Presburg,  Treaty  of,  160 
Prince  of  Naples,  251 
Prince      of      Orange,      121; 

death,  123 
Private    life    of    sovereigns, 

296 

Prussia    aids    Italy    success- 
fully, 224,  225 
Puccini,  musician,  282 
Pyrenees,  Treaty  of  the,  135 

Quirinal,  Napoleon  restores 
Palace,  163 ;  Palace,  Victor 
Emanuel  II.  in,  234 

Raconigi,  royal  family  at, 
294 

Radetsky,  182;  surrender  of 
Pope  to,  181;  Victor 
Emanuel  II.  treats  with, 
190 

Raphael,  ill 

Rapisardi,  278 

Ras  Mangascia,  268 

Ratazzi,  Urbino,  196;  blamed 
for  cowardice,  222;  death 
of,  237 

Ravenna,  Dante  in,  50 

Raymond  di  Cordona,  108 

Reformation,  116 

Renaissance,  94,  99 

Rene,  adopted  heir  of  Jo- 
anna, 60 

Republics,  cities  as  independ- 
ent, 23 

Riario,  87;    Cardinal,  90 

Ricasoli,  221 


Index 


319 


Ricci,  79 

Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall, 
37 

Richard  de  la  Pole,  119 

Richelieu,  135 

Rienzi,  Cola  di,  early  success 
of,  65;  first  failure,  67; 
return  to  Rome,  67;  death, 
68 

Right  of  Investiture,  21 

Rivoli,  Castle  of,  139 

Robert  Guiscard,  19 

Robert  of  Naples,  53;  death 
of,  58 

Robert  de  la  Marck,  114 

Roccasecca,  Battle  of,  77 

Roger,  Count,  19 

Rome,  independent,  24,  188; 
desire  for  Italy's  capital, 
217;  further  agitation  con- 
cerning, 228;  seized  by 
Italian  government,  229; 
capital  of  Italy,  233 

Roncaglia,  Diet  of,  25 

Rosamund,  7 

Rosetti,  Gabriele,  274 

Rossi,  despots  at  Parma,  55 

Rossi,   Count  Pellegrino,   187 

Rossi,  Giuseppe,  241 

Rossini,  280 

Rotharis,  7 

Rudini,  Signer  di,  267 

Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  39 

Rudolph  III.,  King  of  Bur- 
gundy, 131 

Ruffini,  Joseph,  178 

Ruprecht,  73 

Sadowa,    Prussia    successful 

at,  225 
Saffi,  188 


Salemi,  208 

Salerno,  172 

Saluzzo,  Marquis  of,  131 

Salviati,  Francesco,  87 

San  Marino,  169 

San  Martino,  204 

San  Miniato,  123 

Santa  Lucia,  Battle  before, 
!84 

Santorre  di  Santarosa,  174 

Saracens,  n 

Sardinia,  nest-egg  of  Italian 
kingdom,  138;  increase  of, 
143 

Sarto,  Giuseppe  (see  Pius 
X),  248 

Sarzana,  Thomas  of,  Nicho- 
las V.,  85 

Savelli,  56 

Savona,  177 

Savonarola,  Girolamo,  91 ; 
influence  of,  92;  interview 
with  Lorenzo  di  Medici, 
95;  height  of  power,  95, 
103;  persecution  of,  97; 
death  of,  98 

Savoy,  rise  of,  130;  power 
weakened  by  France,  132; 
invaded  by  France,  147; 
ceded  to  Napoleon,  207 

Scala,  Bartolomeo,  47 

Scaligeri,  despots  in  Verona, 
55 

Schiaparelli,  283 

Schism,  76;    end  of,  85 

Scotti,  74 

Selim,  128 

Senefeh,  268 

Senigallia,  Castle  of,  105 

September  Convention,  223, 
226 


320 


Index 


Sforza,  Attendolo,  77;  cap- 
tain, 83 

Sforza,  Francesco,  com- 
mences career,  82;  Duke 
of  Milan,  84;  checks  ad- 
vance of  Amadeus  VIII., 
132 

Sforza,  Galeazzo,  succeeds 
Francesco,  84 

Sforza,  Gian  Galeazzo,  son 
of  Galeazzo,  superseded, 
90,  98;  death  of,  104 

Sforza,  Ludovico,  90,  98; 
death  at  Loches,  103 

Sforza,  Giovanni,  of  Pesaro, 
106 

Sforza,  Maximilian,  son  of 
Ludovico,  108;  flight  of, 
114;  death  of,  116 

Sforza,  Francesco  Maria, 
younger  son  of  Ludovico, 
116 

Siccardi  Law,  196 

Sicilian  Expedition,  207 

Sicilian  Vespers,  43 

Sicily,  rebels  against  Bour- 
bons, 163,  164;  revolt  in, 
181 

Siena,  a  republic,  23 

Sigismund,  77 

Silvati,  172 

Simeone  di  Bardi,  47 

Simplon,  road  over,  64; 
opening  of  tunnel  through, 
297 

Sistine  Chapel,  90 

Sixtus  IV.,  87,  90 

Socialist,  270 

Soderini,  79 

Solferino,  204 

Soncino,  Battle  at,  82 


Sophia,  6 

Soudan,  265 

Southern  Regno,  7 

Southern  Italy,  destitution 
in,  260 

Spain,  disputes  wfth  Savoy, 
134,  U5 

Spanish  Succession,  War  of, 
136 

Spielberg,  Pellico,  impris- 
oned at,  274 

Spinola,  despots  in  Genoa, 
55 

Spoleto,  Duke  of,  10 

Spoleto,  56 

Stanislaus  Leszcynski,  139 

Staufen,  Mount,  25 

Stefano,  88 

Stephen,  Pope,  10 

Stephanie,  wife  of  Crescen- 
tius,  15 

St.  Elmo,  Castle  of,  136 

St.  Quentin,  Battle  of,  133 

Suello,  Monte,  Garibaldi  de- 
feated at,  225 

Superga  Heights,  189 

Sylvester  II.,  15 

Symmachus,  4 

Tagliacozzo,  Battle  of,  38 
Tagliamento,  Battle  of,  152 
Tasso,  112 
Tchernaya,  197 
Theodolinda,  9 
Theodora,  13 
Theodore,  265 
Theodoric,  3 
Theophania,   14 
The  Thousand,  208 
Thomas,  Francis,  173 
Thorwaldsen,  280 


Index 


321 


Tiberine  republic,  155 

Tintoretto,  112 

Titian,  112 

Tommaseo,  Nicolo,  276 

Tortona,  25 

Tours,  Battle  of,  10 

Toselli,  Major,  268 

Trebbia,  Battle  of,  157 

Tregua  Dei,  22 

Treviso,  24 

Triple  Alliance,  242 

Troya,  276 

Tunis,  25 

Turin,  treaty  of,  79;  capital 
removed  from,  223;  ex- 
position at,  270 

Turks,  86;  Venice  threat- 
ened by,  128 

Two  Sicilies,  brief  summary 
of  history  of,  20,  60 

Uberti,  30 

Uguccione,      48 ;        Paradise 

dedicated  to,  49 
Umberto,    Count    of    Salemi, 

251 
United   Italy   as    planned   by 

Napoleon,  162 
Urban  II.,  20 
Urban  IV.,  37 
Urban  V.,  75 
Urban  VI.,  59,  76 
Ursus,  56 
Utrecht,  Peace  of,  137 

Valentina,  103 

Valtellina,  134 

Vandals,  disappearance  of,  6 

Vanucci,  276 

Varese,  72 

Vaucluse,  63 


Vela,  Vincenza,  280 

Velletri,  56 

Venice,  17,  20,  24;  govern- 
ment of,  41 ;  contest  with 
Genoa,  74;  at  height  of 
her  power,  78;  league 
against,  107;  decline  of, 
128;  Napoleon  takes,  152; 
again  proclaimed  a  re- 
public, 182;  oppressed  by 
Austria,  191 ;  deserted  by 
France,  204;  given  up  to 
Italy,  225 

Vercelli,  131 

Verdi,  280;  life  of,  281; 
death  of,  282 

Verdun,  treaty  of,  n 

Verga,  dramatist,  282 

Verona,  battle  of,  157 

Veronese,   Paolo,   112 

Via  Sacra,  297 

Victor,  Count  of  Turin,  251 

Victor  Amadeus  I.,  135 

Victor  Amadeus  II.,  136; 
supports  Philip  V.,  137; 
abdicates,  138;  impris- 
oned, 139 

Victor  Amadeus  III.,  145; 
makes  terms  with  Napo- 
leon, 156 

Victor  Emanuel  I.,  156; 
receives  back  Piedmont 
and  Savoy,  167;  abdicates, 
173 

Victor  Emanuel  II.,  189; 
compromise  with  Austria, 
100 ;  commences  reform, 
195;  patriotic  speech  of, 
201 ;  takes  stand  against 
temporal  power  of  Pope, 
210 ;  recognized  by  powers 


322 


Index 


as  King  of  Italy,  212;  re- 
sides in  Quirinal,  234; 
death,  238;  mourning  for, 
239 

Victor  Emanuel  III.,  birth 
of,  242;  succeeds  Hum- 
bert, 290;  early  training 
and  education,  291,  292; 
ability  of,  293 

Vienna,  Treaty  of,  139; 
congress  at,  167 

Viesseux,  Gian   Pietro,  276 

Villafranca,  Peace  of,  206 

Villani,    Matteo,    Filippo,    64 

Violante,  71 

Visconti  in  Milan,  55;  Mat- 
teo, 57,  69 

Visconti,  Galeazzo,  57;  Otto 
the  Archbishop,  69 

Visconti  Azzo,  69;  Luc- 
chino,  69 

Visconti,  Archbishop  Gio- 
vanni, 70 

Visconti,  Stephano,  70;  Mat- 
teo, 70 

Visconti,  Galeazzo,  70;  in 
Pavia,  71;  Bernabo,  70; 
in  Milan,  71;  Gian  Gale- 
azzo, 71;  ability  of,  72; 


Giovanni  Maria,  74;  Fil- 
ippo Maria,  74;  failing 
power  of,  82;  yield  land 
to  Piedmont,  131 

Vittoria  Colonna,  no 

Volta  Alessandro,  146 

Wagram,  Battle  of,  161 
Waibling,  25 
Waldenses,  127 
Waldo,  Peter,  127 
Walter  of  Brienne,  58 
Warsaw,  Council  at,  214 
Waterloo,  170 
Welf  of  Bavaria,  25 
Werner,  Duke,  61 
Wencelaus,  73 
White  Company,  62 
William  the  Norman,  26 
William  II.,  29 
Wireless  telegraphy,  283 

Young  Italy,  177 

Zanardelli,    270;      death    of, 

297 

Zeno,  3 

Zichy,  General,  182 
Zwingli,  116 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACIL 


A     000034274     1 


